Published June 2002

As population ages,
elder-care benefits growing in workplace

By Bob O’Toole
Guest Columnist

Trying to manage the care of aging parents or a disabled family member while trying to meet work responsibilities is a challenge that faces a growing segment of our population.

As the huge demographic “bubble” in our population — 76 million baby boomers — grows older, so do this demographic’s parents.

While longevity is something we all hope for, it can be a mixed blessing. Medical advances have indeed prolonged our lives, and that also means we have a longer period of old age where help is needed with routine activities of daily living.

Caregiving takes a heavy toll on work and family life. Among those employees who have provided hands-on care:

• 67 percent report it has had a significant effect on their family lives.
• 41 percent said that it interfered with their work.
• More than 10 percent said they had given up promotions or jobs as a result.

Employers are learning that employees who are also caregivers to an older family member have an impact on their bottom line as well.

Studies funded by AARP, The National Alliance for Caregivers and others estimate elder-care costs to employers at $29 billion annually. These costs are due to lost time at work by caregivers, time spent on the phone at work trying to resolve caregiving problems and many other issues.

When local or long-distance caregivers try to locate help, they discover that a discouraging development is emerging in America. While the population of frail older persons is growing, the care and services available for them is shrinking rapidly.

Steep cuts are occurring in the once generous Medicare home-health-care benefit. With billions of federal dollars now needed to pay for the war on terrorism and to strengthen our economy, funds for programs for seniors continue to grow scarce.

A valuable resource for working caregivers may well be their employer. Many corporations, industry and professional associations are now responding to these pressures by offering innovative and affordable elder-care benefits to ease the caregiving burdens faced by their employees and members.

Once a luxury that only large national corporations could afford, elder-care benefits programs now come in a variety of formats with services as simple as toll-free call centers and Web sites with information about local elder-care programs.

Employees also have access to a growing list of services, discounts and assistance by experienced geriatric specialists.

Networks of elder-care providers nationwide now manage “work/life” balance programs using low overhead and cost-sharing models. These programs are available to companies or trade associations for $2 per month or less per employee/member.

Providing long-term care insurance as a voluntary, employee-paid benefit is also growing in popularity because employees and extended family members are eligible for substantial discounts through the power of group purchasing.

Those who have purchased this insurance are generally pleased with their coverage, and more than 70 percent report that their long-term care insurance policy pays all of the costs of the services they need. That goes a long way toward reducing the financial and emotional burden on family caregivers.

Robert E. O’Toole, MSW, is President of Informed Decisions Inc., a private company specializing in elder-issues planning for employers and organizations. He can be reached at bob@ElderlifePlanning.com or through his Web site, www.ElderLifePlanning.com.

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