Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108CHAPTER 4 83 hours of care per week than that received by elders with normal cognitive function (Langa et al. 2001). To estimate the yearly costs of caring for older family members with dementia, the researchers adjusted the number of hours of reported care to account for chronic health conditions other than dementia (and for other factors). They then multiplied the results by the 1998 national average wage for a home health aide of $8.20 per hour, and estimated that the yearly cost for dementia at the national level was $18 billion for informal caregiving alone, in ad- dition to direct and indirect costs of dementia in the United States. This finding underscores the importance of including valid estimates of unpaid caregiver time when evaluating future clinical and Caregiving Costs, Insurance Medical and workforce costs associated with certain diseases were discussed in Chapters 1 and 2. HRS data may also be used to gener- ate national estimates of the costs of informal caregiving (by family and friends) to people with chronic health conditions. Figure 4-7 shows one set of estimates for five different conditions, four of which cost at least $6 billion annually and one of which—dementia—costs $18 billion annually in informal caregiving. Looking at people age 70 and older in the 1990s, researchers found that those with mild dementia received 8.5 more hours of care per week and those with severe dementia received 41.5 more fertility rates decline and more women participate in the formal labor market, we might anticipate greater tension between workforce demands and parental care needs. Analyses of HRS data from the mid-1990s suggest that devoting time to informal care of older parents may indeed be incompatible with having a full-time job during midlife (Johnson and Lo Sasso 2000, 2001). The studies found that women who provided an average of 2 or more hours per week of paren- tal help (with either ADLs or IADLs) worked 43 percent fewer hours than women overall. For men providing similar care, the reduction in hours of paid work was about 28 percent. Women ages 53 to 63 who helped their parents with personal care reduced their hours of paid work by about 70 percent. These findings suggest the need for further research to look at family responsibilities as a major obstacle to encouraging workers to delay retirement, as well as the need to develop accurate estimates of the financial costs incurred by families who provide informal care. TBL. 4-2 TYPE of respondent transfers to parents, by age of respondent: 2002 (In percent) Age of Respondent Type of Assistance Under 65 65-79 Money Only 5.9% 4.6% Hour of Care Only 1.5 1.9 Chore Hours Only 14.6 12.0 Care and Chores 3.8 3.1 Money and Care 0.5 0.9 Money and Chores 2.9 1.9 Money, Care, and Chores 1.7 1.4 No Transfer 69.3 74.2 FIG. 4-7 National annual cost of informal caregiving for FIVE chronic conditions: circa 1998 Diabetes Incontinence Stroke Depression Dementia Billions of Dollars $0 $5 $10 $15 $20 Source: Langa and colleagues, various reports 2000-2004.