Posted by
Denise on Jan 25th, 2010 in
In The News |
9 comments
Today, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden proposed several policy initiatives to help middle class families. The proposal includes a $102.5 million Caregiver Initiative; here are the details:
- The Initiative adds $52.5 million in funding to Department of Health and Human Services caregiver support programs that provide temporary respite care, counseling, training, and referrals to critical services.
- The extra funding will allow nearly 200,000 additional caregivers to be served and 3 million more hours of respite care to be provided.
- It also adds $50 million to programs that provide transportation help, adult day care, and in-home services, such as aides to help seniors bathe and cook, help which eases the burden for family members and helps seniors stay in their homes.
President Obama will discuss these initiatives during Wednesday’s State of the Union address.
So… What do you think?
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It sounds good, but I wonder how many people this will really help. I certainly don’t see it helping me.
Hi Karen,
Always nice to see you.
The administration also shared these stats:
An estimated 38 million Americans provide unpaid care to an aging relative, including approximately 23 million caregivers with jobs and 12 million who are also caring for their own children.
So, $102 million divided by 38 million doesn’t add up to much.
When I posted this article yesterday, I did a double-take as I typed $102 million–simply because that struck me as a low figure.
Well, it’s a start. And, certainly transportation is a huge problem. Any help with that would be very welcome.
I agree that it sounds good, but how much will actually get into the hands of people who need and can use it. Often govenment involvement and “help” is not that effective.
I think that there are those out there who NEED SERVICES AND ASSISTANCE desparately; however, I also believe that there is money out there that is being wasted. They need to have stricter criteria on the usage and approval process for transportation needs. Also, just because one is low-income should not mean they automatically qualify for those services; especially when they are not disabled. There are many of us using all family resources available to us and have no services afforded to us….and than there are those who use them because they are ‘entitled’. The money available has to be used as it it is your own. The less used allows more people services if everyone looked at the system that way.
Hmm…this is interesting and I definitely need to learn some more about it. We all know that government bureaucracy is rarely helpful in the way it is intended to be, but the fact remains that something needs to happen. I don’t know if adding more to the budget is the right thing to do, or if the better thing (as someone said above) is to tighten things up and make sure those who NEED the help (not just want it or feel entitled) are the ones getting it. All I know is that my 87 year old grandmother, who has no real assets, is 100% dependent due to strokes and general frailty, and cannot stand or even wipe her own face or move her arms herself, is definitely NOT getting enough help financially. It isn’t right, but I’m afraid I’m not sure what the correct answer is.
.-= Miss R´s last blog ..The Age Of Invisibility by Eissa Stein =-.
My own personal experience is that this is simply a bunch of money being thrown at a situation to make our politicians feel like they are doing something that helps without having a clue what all the needs truly are.
I have an aide that helps me bath my Father, paid for by the VA. While it is a help, it’s not really that big of a deal for me to do this myself.
I receive 6 hours of respite care every two weeks, again paid for by the VA. I used to get 2 additional respite care sessions every week. These sessions were 4 hours in length. To be honest, these respit care sessions are ridiculous. The people that they send are ill equipped to handle any type of an emergency. They have missed medication doses and forgotten some critical care points. One of them decide it would be a good idea to get my Father up for a walk without his walker and by himself. Luckily, he fell into his bed and not onto the floor.
Exactly what does transportation help mean? We have a van that the VA has equipped with a lift for my Dad’s power chair. What transportation help do we need? With gas prices creeping up to $3 a gallon once again, the answer is obvious.
Maybe we will now be able to have some more nurses come to the house and help out. The reason I have learned as much as I have is because of the poor home care my Father has received from these agencies. Most of the time all they do is come in, take his vitals (which I myself do 4 times a day and keep an ongoing daily record)ask him if he’s in any pain and tell me I’m doing a great job. They bill Medicare for this service that I’m guessing we could probably live without.
It seems to me that this program is really no different than Florida’s Nursing Home Diversion Program run by DCF and Medicaid; the only groups of people that really benefit are the companies that provide these services. If these programs are intended to be like stimulus packages to the private sector than call them that and please stop calling them programs designed to help family caregivers.
For over 5 years I have begged and pleaded for someone to help me go to work for a few hours a week. I keep telling these oh so helpful agencies that I am a very able bodied and capable man. If I could only bring $200/week into our home the difference in our overall quality of life would be amazing. Their answer is for me to take my respite care and work. The above explanation should show that working while only having 4 hours to be out of the house is impossible.
We caregivers are already saving state and federal government agencies millions of dollars every year. Why not let some of that money flow back into the household? And now an increase of $102 million more in caregiver services? How much more of this will we be saving the government?
This, as I see it, is the REAL WORLD SOLUTION. Since a task force is going to be assigned to this portion of the budget, let the members come up with a formula for every qualifying household. Based on how they qualify, they have an estimated dollar amount for the year. Then the caregiver and caree decide what services they will have. Add up the cost. If there is anything left as A DIRECT RESULT OF THE CAREGIVER, pay the caregiver as an employee. This can be handled in a number of different way, but no matter which way it goes it’s a win-win for everyone.
Imagine how many caregivers feel inadequate because, even though they are providing an unbelievably valuable service, they are no longer employed and everyone in the household is suffering due to the loss of income. Now imagine that the caregiver receives a portion of the government’s saving. Not to mention the fact that it would help the unemployment rate. This situation may even let future caregivers decide to keep their loved ones at home and out of the nursing homes.
I’m sorry for the rant, but at some point all of these people saying they are trying to help should sit down and figure out what help we really need.
William, I definitely understand where you are coming from. While I am happy that my grandmother gets some in-home care from home-health people (partially covered by Medicare at the moment), sometimes I am totally shocked at how little they do. When I ask around at some of the agencies to see what else is available, I usually hear the same things you described: we’d be eligible for someone to come out once a week to help bathe, and that’s about it. Since we have a lift for my Gram, the bathing part is already mostly done.
I tend to lean more towards Libertarianism when it comes to politics, but I find that when dealing with elder issues that a compromise has to be made. I rather like your thoughts on giving surplus or what-have-you to caregivers. Arguments against entitlements are easy to make, but the fact it that EVERYONE ages and it is therefore a societal (and cultural) issue that needs to be dealt with in a much more effective way than it currently is. I just hope there is a way to do this and that it can and will be done.
I don’t know if that makes any sense.
I am a 57 year old mother that is caregiving my paralysed son. He had a 800lb slab fall on him at work,T12injury. SAIFworkmans comp. is paying me $81.90 amonth. I am looking for some advacates,is this legal?It has been 7months for awheelchair[its still not complete].No van[supposidly approved in Sept.]Medicaly a nightmare. He needs intense rehab to exercise his legs.SAIF allows him 2 hours a week outpatient therapy.The stress has caused many secondary[blood clots infections depression]hindering his recovery.Please help.
Hi–You may have already done this, but just in case: I would contact your son’s company’s HR department. Tell them what’s happened and your concerns. What can they do to help? If the HR department can’t help, then contact the company’s president or CEO. Hopefully, the company will get involved and make things right. The company is paying the workman’s comp company to manage your son’s claim. And, they obviously are not.
If the company can’t help, then you could consider finding a lawyer who can intervene on your son’s behalf to get the care/services he’s been promised.
I hope you will keep us posted.