Many family caregivers need supportive services to ensure that they do not place themselves at risk. Families and friends caring for people with long term care needs often need information and assistance in getting to supportive resources. Most of those who are the primary caregivers of older persons who have limitations in their level of functioning are elderly themselves. Frequently, these caregivers are providing physically demanding and psychologically exhausting care which places their own health and mental health at risk. These stresses tend to be even more severe for families of persons with Alzheimer's Disease, who generally have greater demands placed on their personal time, experience family conflicts, lack adequate sleep, and are faced with financial hardships because of jobs sacrificed or employment curtailed or compromised.
Private insurance is an important but relatively new and untested option.
Employers are only beginning to learn how to provide these benefits to their workers. It would provide needed financial support to about 2 million Americans, including 1.2 million older Americans, over 500,000 non-elderly adults, and approximately 250,000 children per year. Establishing a commitment to provide services to assist family caregivers of older persons. Recent studies have found that services like respite care can relieve caregiver stress and delay nursing home entry, and that support for families of Alzheimer's patients can delay institutionalization for up to a year. Historically, Medicaid policy and practice has inadvertently discriminated against people with long-term care needs who want to live in the community by making it much easier to provide coverage in nursing homes than in the community.