Senior care is and will remain a hot topic when it comes to the debate over health care and insurance because such a large portion of our society is impacted. Not only are the elderly in need of assistance impacted when it comes to senior care, the people who provide care–usually a family member–are also impacted. In this light, the number of individuals impacted by the necessity for senior care is almost doubled than what would first be anticipated.
And the need for care is growing, as you probably already know. The number of seniors in our country is on the rise. Let’s look at numbers for a moment. There are (roughly) 38 million people in the United States that are aged 65 or older. Of those, about 30 percent are currently receiving senior care, and more than 50 percent will receive long term care (meaning more than 30 days) over the course of their lifetime. That ends up being more than 19 million people in need of care either right now, or in the next few years. And of those 19 million individuals, more than 65 percent will receive their care from a family member. That’s about 12.5 million individuals caring for their elderly loved ones.
In total, a minimum of 31.5 million people in the United States will either be receiving care, or administering care in a non-professional capacity. That’s about 10 percent of the population.
As you can see, this is a huge portion of our country. And the number–and the percentage–is expected to keep growing. This is just projections for the next few years. By the year 2030, the number of seniors in the U.S. is expected to be a much higher percentage of the population than it is now. Thanks to better medical care and technology, these people are probably going to live longer than the average life expectancy right now.
In short, caregivers are needed if we want to keep our families healthy and happy. This doesn’t mean that you need to quit your job and become a caregiver in a professional capacity. This career path is expected to grow in the coming decades, but it’s certainly not for everyone. However, if you do wish to act as a family caregiver to someone you love, you do have options before you. You can hire a professional care service like Paradise In-Home Care to help your family, or you can get some informal training to be a caregiver yourself. Some long term care insurance policies even offer family caregiver training if this is something that you are interested in.
Whatever you decide to do, remember that it’s best to act sooner rather than later. When care needs become an emergency, your options become limited. By looking into caregiver training before it is needed, you have time on your side to not be rushed and get the most out of what you will learn. This can be a valuable way to give back to your family and the people you care about.
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