Stipica Mudrazija (
Health Aff (Millwood). 2019 Jun;38(6):1003-1010. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2019.00008.
Older Americans living in the community who need help with functional limitations overwhelmingly rely on unpaid care, which is often provided by working-age family members. This study assessed the impact of unpaid family caregiving on the likelihood of working and hours worked for caregivers and calculated the related cost of forgone earnings in 2013 and 2050. The current economic cost is about $67 billion, which by midcentury will likely double to $132-$147 billion, fueled primarily by the growth of the disabled older population and the increased share of better-educated caregivers. Average opportunity cost per caregiver will likely increase by 8-20 percent and per US resident by 54-72 percent. Future policy action could benefit from accounting fully for the economic costs in addition to the benefits of unpaid caregiving, which would help better define the scope and size of programs needed to support caregivers.
生活在社区中的美国老年人在功能受限方面需要帮助，他们主要依赖无报酬的家庭护理，而这些护理往往由在职的家庭成员提供。本研究评估了无报酬家庭护理对护理人员工作和工作时间的可能性的影响，并计算了 2013 年和 2050 年因放弃工作而产生的相关经济损失。目前的经济成本约为 670 亿美元，到本世纪中叶，这一数字可能会翻一番，达到 1320 亿至 1470 亿美元，主要原因是残疾老年人口的增长和受教育程度更高的护理人员比例的增加。每位护理人员的平均机会成本可能会增加 8%至 20%，每位美国居民的机会成本可能会增加 54%至 72%。未来的政策行动如果能够充分考虑到无报酬护理的经济成本和收益，将有助于更好地确定支持护理人员所需的计划的范围和规模。
