Study: Families Shoulder Burden of Care for Seniors

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (November 29, 2022)—Some 70% of Americans have no advance directive about their long-term care needs, and only one in 10 have long-term care insurance, according to a new study from insurance company HCG Secure. 

The study is accompanied by interviews that provide a window into the real-world experiences of the 65 million family caregivers in the United States, comprising 90% of all caregivers in America.

The study showed parents with long-term care needs in the United States predominantly relied on their adult children and spouses to guide them through long-term care needs. Even those with a basic level of caregiving preparedness experienced financial, emotional, and physical stresses. This starts early in the process of caregiving, as many participants described their lack of knowledge of what care is needed and what is covered by insurance, making their experiences difficult to navigate. Once care was established, the participants acknowledged the financial cost of caregiving was higher than anticipated and was not something they foresaw being sustainable for the long term, in their current circumstances.

“Each of these stories feels familiar and somewhat universal, despite differences in respondents’ incomes, ages, and circumstances,” said Tom Beauregard, CEO and founder of HCG Secure. “So many middle-income American families are having challenging experiences as unpaid caregivers, and too often, these individuals are overlooked or the challenges they face are misunderstood and minimized. As a nation, we need to generate public- and private-sector solutions supporting all families with a reasonable level of financial and non-financial support as they face the inevitable challenges of aging and long-term care support needs.”

Interview participants echoed a broader need for guidance as family caregivers navigate the complexities of the healthcare system and work to understand long-term care options, particularly those options which allow aging adults to stay in the home (or, the place they call home) for as long as possible. A lack of preparation further complicates the process for adult children who are not geographically located near their parents, which is increasingly common.

“It took my sister and I nearly 300 hours together to create a care plan for our father, and most of that was going to find and organize his financial and health records. Without preparation, we had to make a lot of important decisions in a vulnerable state of mind,” said one study participant, Stan Horwitz. “It was complicated to figure out what care was needed, what was covered and what was not, how much everything would cost, and more importantly what resources we could hire to give our father the quality care he needed.”

An unforeseen consequence of a lack of planning, aside from the financial burden, is the difficulty of acquiring quality care. Family members are more often untrained and cannot administer the same quality of care as trained individuals. The financial effects on the unpaid family caregiver can cost them up to $300,000 in lost earnings.

HCG Secure’s study and interviews center on the financial burden of caregiving and how the financial responsibility adult children often assume for aging parents can catalyze or exacerbate the much-studied emotional burden faced by family caregivers.

The study was conducted on the long-term care and caregiver challenges of 401 individuals; 109 individuals, those who had a parent or a parent-in-law who needed long-term care, were recontacted and invited to participate in a series of one-on-one interviews. During these sessions, participants were asked to tell their stories more fully and reflect on how these experiences impacted them, both at the time and as they plan for their own future long-term care needs. Ten respondents who had indicated experience caring for an aging loved one were selected for individual discussions.

To access the study results and qualitative interviews, please visit https://hcgsecure.com/independent-research/