Detroit Free Press

Cassandra Spratling

November 13, 2006

Michigan ranks 8th in the U.S. in the number of family caregivers, the hours of caregiving services given to family members who are chronically ill, disabled and aged and the monetary value of free care were a price tag put on it.

The National Family Caregivers Association and Family Caregiver Alliance recently released the state-by-state analysis of family caregiving based on 2004 data. They estimated the value of services given freely at $306 billion – a 19% increase in the past four years.

The estimated cost of services by 993,928 Michigan caregivers was estimated to be $10.5 billion. Care includes emotional, financial, nursing, social, and homemaking services on a daily or intermittent basis.

The largest caregiving states were California, with an annual market value of over $36 billion, followed by Texas at $22 billion; and New York at $20 billion.

“The numbers reinforce the need to develop programs and policies at all levels to educate and support family caregivers who are providing the bulk of long-term care services,” said Suzanne Mintz, president and co-founder of the National Family Caregivers Association. “These statistics are a powerful reminder of just how hard family caregivers are working and they raise serious questions for the future as the aging of the Baby Boom peaks.’’