Raise family caregivers act supports unpaid caregivers

RAISE ACT PANEL TARGETS ‘NEGATIVE FINANCIAL IMPACTS’ The advisory council report does not cite specific legislative initiatives but does call for federal action to “decrease the negative

financial impacts for family caregivers” and advance “employee-centered, flexible workplace policies and practices that support work/life balance” and help working caregivers maintain job

performance when their personal circumstances change. That’s a common problem for the tens of millions of Americans who help parents, spouses, children and adults with disabilities and other

loved ones to live independently. They prepare meals, handle finances, manage medications, drive to doctors’ appointments, help with bathing and dressing, perform common medical tasks and

more, all so loved ones can live at home. Among other issues, the report also addresses the need for respite care and other services to address caregivers’ physical and mental well-being;

including caregivers as “essential members and partners” of a care recipient’s health care team; and how Medicare, Medicaid and veterans’ programs interact with caregiving. The HHS secretary

appointed the council, and it operates under the aegis of the Administration for Community Living, an HHS agency that works to help older adults and people with disabilities live and thrive

in their own communities. It includes 15 voting members, among them caregivers, disabled adults, employers, health care and long-term care providers, veterans, state and local officials,

and 15 advisory members from federal departments and agencies. One of the voting members is Catherine Alicia Georges, AARP’s former national volunteer president, who was caregiver to her

late husband. Their recommendations will serve as a framework for a national family caregiving strategy aimed at improving information collection and sharing — especially on promising

practices and innovative models for care, better coordinating and assessing existing federal programs to recognize and support family caregivers, and assisting and informing state and

local efforts to support family caregivers. _Editor's note: This article, originally published in July 2015, has been updated with more recent information._