Senior caregivers more economical than family caregivers?

Think you are saving money by taking time off of work to care for your elderly relative? A new study by Rand Corporation, one of the leading independent health policy research programs, investigated the cost of informal caregiving of the elderly by friends and relatives. The cost is calculated by the valuing the hours family caregivers give up in order to provide care (in the US, this comes to 30 billion hours annually).

According to the Rand Corporation, the 30 billion hours that family caregivers give up each year to provide senior care put the price tag for informal caregiving at a whopping $522 billion a year. That’s a lot of money in lost wages! And get this—Rand Corporation estimates that replacing that care with a professional senior caregiver at minimum wage would cost only $221 billion per year, while replacing it with skilled nursing care would cost around $642 billion annually.

Are you a family caregiver whose time could be invested more strategically? Read about the many benefits of hiring a senior caregiver here!

Simplify the process of privately employing a senior caregiver with HomeWork Solutions’ automated household payroll. The senior caregiver’s paycheck will be generated automatically each week (you will be able to make adjustments, should the schedule change) and Unemployment, Social Security, and Medicare taxes will be calculated and withheld. Give us a call at 1-800-626-4829 for a free consultation or check out our services here.