Elder care costs are outpacing inflation. Americans want a lifeline.
A recent Kamala Harris campaign proposal targets at-home caregivers struggling with steep out-of-pocket expenses even as consumer prices finally stabilize.
The costs of caring for ill and aging loved ones don’t show up on store shelves, but they’re front and center for voters like Sharon Zimmer.
Zimmer, 65, of Onalaska, Wisconsin, has been caring for her husband, Chuck Zimmer, since he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia in 2018.
“Everything that we worked hard for is going back into his care,” said Sharon — one of the more than 38 million unpaid family caregivers to whom Vice President Kamala Harris appealed last week with a proposal to have Medicare cover the costs of at-home care.
Chuck and Sharon Zimmer.Sharon ZimmerThe ranks of U.S. family caregivers have swelled by around 4 million since 2015, according to AARP, causing many to drop out of the workforce. For Sharon, that decision came in 2021, when she gave up most of her part-time retail work after it became too much to juggle with caring for Chuck, now 67. The move slashed their annual household income by nearly $24,000.
The couple now have health insurance through Medicare, but they didn’t qualify for the program when Chuck was first diagnosed, causing a big early hit to their finances. Even now, the Zimmers are still dipping into their retirement funds to subsidize his care. Their out-of-pocket costs are set to exceed $17,000 this year, not including security and transportation.
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