Get Paid to be a Caregiver for Elderly Parents
Pay Family Caregiver and Help Aging Mom or Dad
Oct 28, 2009
Now, many family caregivers are wondering aloud about getting paid for their work, but the questions are not without dilemma: Is there pay available for caregiving for Mom or Dad? Is it morally right for an adult child to get paid for taking care of elderly parents? What should the family caregiver get paid, and for what work?
When Caregivers Contribute Without Pay
According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, National Center on Caregiving, about 44 million Americans provide 37 billion hours of unpaid care each year for adult family members and friends. Specifically, the typical U.S. caregiver is a 46-year-old woman who works outside the home and spends more than 23 hours per week providing unpaid care to her mother.
The Family Caregiver Alliance website states that in 2007, the estimated economic value of family caregivers' unpaid contributions was at least $375 billion, which is how much it would cost to replace that care with paid services.
A recent U.S. Department of Health and Human Services survey looked at caregiving and found that more than half of the informal caregivers (58%) responded that caregiving bothered them and was hard on them emotionally. More than half (55%) stated that they do not sleep through the night as a result of providing care and 25% of respondents said their physical health had declined.
Caregiving for Mom or Dad
Caregiving extends from the smallest, mundane tasks of helping someone to the major issues of managing end of life wishes and care of the elderly person. In recent research, the elderly fared better while in the care of family members who were paid, than paid non-family caregivers.
Some duties of caregivers include:
- Food – From meal planning, to grocery shopping, to preparing meals, to feeding the elderly person.
- Medication set up and reminders.
- Liaison with doctor – manages doctor appointments and after care.
- Personal care – Help with bathing, incontinence, illness effects.
- Entertainment – from reading to playing games.
- Help with physical tasks.
- Cleaning the residence.
- Managing end of life wishes.
Pay for Family Caregiving
Three pay solutions may be available for family caregivers now.
One is direct pay. Some parents have resources available to pay a family caregiver directly. In this case the quandary is not where to find funds, but whether to pay them to a family member for caregiving. When siblings are involved, discussions are taking place around the kitchen table, on the phone, or via email about what payments should entail.
Ideas include cash payments to the caregiver, gifts, or contributions to grandkids' college funds. If one child picks up a majority of the parental care, that individual can have a legal contract drawn up that outlines the care to be provided and stipulates either an hourly wage or per diem charge. Taxes are withheld.
In determining pay, many families use the guidelines of care giving agencies that pay workers $9 to $10 per hour. While this compensation won’t cover the actual worth, it will address some of the emotional issues of the caregiver being compensated for hard work, above and beyond what is considered normal for caring for mom or dad.
There are different methods of payment. For example, if the primary caregiver is a wife/mother caring for her mother, she may want contributions from the mother’s account to her kids’ 529 educational savings plan in lieu of payment to herself.
Other families gift money to the familial caregiver. The specific terms of the transaction are determined by the amount of the gift, the size of the estate and how long the parent lives after gifting. Information about gifting can be obtained at IRS websites.
A second option is Medicaid. If the elderly parent qualifies for Medicaid, the caregiver should be able to get paid for care, depending on a number of criteria. One of the steps includes applying for your state Medicaid. Secondly, the caregiver must be trained and certified. Information on both steps can be obtained from U.S. government websites about Medicaid.
A third possibility for pay exists if the parents have a long term care insurance cash policy. After certain criteria are met, the insurance company will send the insured the entire monthly benefit of the cash policy. The elder can use the cash to pay family caregivers.
Other LTCI policies only pay for licensed care through an agency, but others pay for individual aides who are certified. In that case, check into becoming certified in order to receive pay for elderly care.
The situation of who will be in charge of – and get paid – for caring for parents or the elderly will only get more dire as baby boomers age. By 2030 the 65+ population will be about 70 million people who will need care, and most will want to receive it in their own homes from family members.
In a recent article in the Hawthorne Press, "Challenges of Aging on U.S. Families," proponents of paying family caregivers spoke to its benefits, such as increasing consumer choice, improving the quality of care, and expanding the limited worker supply.
This research also found the majority of the respondents were in favor of paying family members for care because it meant better quality care, improved satisfaction for the elderly, and economic benefits for consumers and families.
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