Family caregivers face rising costs and pressure on their jobs

Family caregivers now spend an average of $11,508 a year out of pocket to support an adult relative or friend, about 60% more than five years ago, according to a new AARP study. The expense can come with another financial blow: lost income when caregiving forces someone to cut back at work or leave a job.

The annual spending amounts to 31% of caregivers’ income on average, NPR reported. For households earning less than $40,000 a year, caregiving costs consume more than three-quarters of annual income on average, according to AARP figures reported by CBS News. The study surveyed 2,538 people who cared for an adult relative or friend in June and July.

The increase in costs far outpaced the 24% overall inflation rate over the same period, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, NPR reported. Housing and other household expenses, including food, rent, mortgage payments and property taxes, are the largest category of spending. Caregivers pay nearly $4,800 a year for those costs on average, according to CBS News. Health care is the second-largest burden, followed by such expenses as nursing homes, medical equipment and drugs.

For Wendy Mayo, 44, of Connecticut, the bills include a professional caregiver, rent and changes to her mother’s home. Mayo’s mother has Alzheimer’s disease and needs around-the-clock supervision. Mayo and her two siblings share the costs, which Mayo estimates at $45,000 a year combined.

“We pay her rent and bought stuff to prevent bedsores, plus bed alarms because she was getting out of bed and wandering around,” Mayo told CBS News. The family also bought cameras to watch her. Mayo said she spends about $15,000 annually and has reduced her own retirement savings. “It’s a role you’re thrust into. It’s not like retirement, which we plan for,” she said.

Work can become harder to sustain. Nearly two-thirds of working caregivers surveyed said their responsibilities had affected their jobs, CBS News reported. Some work more hours to cover costs; others reduce their hours or quit to provide care. Megan O’Reilly, AARP’s vice president of government affairs for health and family, said caregivers also spend unpaid time finding providers, arranging appointments and providing transportation.

Meghan Maher experienced that squeeze after her mother was diagnosed with advanced cancer seven weeks after Maher’s first child was born. Maher told NPR she eventually left her cancer research career, cutting her family’s income in half. After her mother died in 2017, complications from her father’s surgery required more care, and Maher estimated her family spent about $10,000 a year on child care. She later became a self-employed death doula, gaining scheduling flexibility while earning half what she would have made in her previous career.

About half of family caregivers report making major financial sacrifices, NPR reported, including working more, saving less or drawing on retirement funds. NPR also reported that roughly 63 million Americans — about one in four adults — provide ongoing help to a relative or friend.

Some states offer caregiver tax credits or paid family leave, and Congress has considered proposals for a nationwide tax credit, paid leave and protections for caregivers’ future Social Security benefits, NPR reported. AARP executive vice president Nancy LeaMond said the scale of spending could spur legislative action: “When you see the number of people paying this kind of money, I think that’ll be an impetus for action in the legislative arena.”