Caregivers have higher levels of stress than non-caregivers. They also describe feeling frustrated, angry, drained, guilty, or helpless due to providing care.

1. Why Having a conversation about Long-
Term Care planning matters
Caregiving is not an place; it is a situation where people transition from an active
lifestyle to needing care services.
Forty-four million Americans age 18 and older provide unpaid assistance and
support to older people and adults with disabilities.
Evidence shows that most caregivers are not properly prepared for the
responsibilities of care giving. More than one-third of caregivers provide personal
caregiving to family and friends, while caregivers have their own health issues.
Research establishes that family members who provide care to individuals with
chronic or disabling conditions are themselves at risk. Emotional, mental, and
physical health problems arise from complex caregiving situations and the strains of
caring for frail or disabled relatives.
Medical advances, shorter hospital stays, limited discharge planning, and expansion
of home care technology have placed increased costs and responsibilities on
families, who are asked to be responsible to be caregivers for extended periods.
Caregivers are more likely to lack health insurance coverage due to time out of the
workforce.
These burdens and health risks will hinder the caregiver’s ability to provide care,
leading to higher health care costs and affecting both the caregiver and care
receivers.
Impact of Caregiving on Caregiver Mental and Emotional Health
The psychological health of the family caregiver is negatively affected by providing
care. Higher levels of stress, anxiety, depression, and other mental health effects are
typical among family members who care for an older relative or friend.
Caregivers show higher levels of depression.
• Studies consistently report higher depressive symptoms and mental health
problems among caregivers than non-caregiving peers.
• Estimates show that between 40 to 70% of caregivers have clinically
significant symptoms of depression, with approximately one-quarter to one-
half of these caregivers meeting the diagnostic criteria for major depression.
• Both caregiver depression and perceived burden increase as the care
receiver’s functional status declines.
Caregivers suffer from high levels of stress and frustration.
• Caregivers have higher levels of stress than non-caregivers. They also
describe feeling frustrated, angry, drained, guilty, or helpless due to providing
care.
• Some 16% of caregivers feel emotionally strained, and 26% say taking care of
the care recipient is hard on them emotionally. An additional 13% of
caregivers feel frustrated with the lack of progress made with the care
recipient.
• More than one-fifth (22%) of caregivers are exhausted when they go to bed at
night, and many feel they cannot handle all their caregiving responsibilities.

2. Health Consequences for Women Caregivers.
• Female caregivers (who comprise about two-thirds of all unpaid
caregivers) fare worse than their male counterparts, reporting higher levels of
depressive and anxiety symptoms and lower subjective well-being, life
satisfaction, and physical health than male caregivers.
There is a dramatic increase in the risk of mental health consequences among
women who provide 36 or more hours per week of care to a spouse.
Caregivers are in worse health.
• Caregivers have lower levels of subjective well-being and physical health than
non-caregivers. In 2005, three-fifths of caregivers reported fair or poor health
status, one or more chronic conditions, or a disability, compared with one-
third of non-caregivers. Caregivers also reported chronic conditions (including
heart attack/heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and arthritis) at nearly twice the
rate of non-caregivers (45 vs. 24%).
• Caregivers suffer from increased rates of physical ailment, increased
tendencies to develop severe illness, and have high levels of obesity.
• The physical stress of caregiving can affect the caregiver’s physical health,
especially when caring for someone who cannot transfer themselves out of
bed, walk, or bathe without assistance. Ten percent of primary caregivers
report that they are physically strained.
Caregivers have lower levels of personal self-care.
• Caregivers are less likely to engage in preventive health behaviors.
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) of caregivers reported that they had not gone to
the doctor as often as they should, and more than half (55%) had missed
doctor’s appointments.
• Caregivers’ self-care suffers because they lack the time and energy to prepare
proper meals or exercise. About six in ten caregivers in a national survey
reported that their eating (63%) and exercising (58%) habits are worse than
before.
• Caregivers in rural areas are at a more significant disadvantage for having
their own medical needs met due to difficulty getting to the hospital and
doctor.
Caregivers pay the ultimate price with providing care.
• Elderly spousal caregivers (aged 66-96) who experience caregiving-related
stress have a 63% higher mortality rate than non-caregivers of the same age.
There is no requirement to own a plan to pay for ‘activities of daily living,’ why have
the conversation about long-term care benefits?
1. Caregiving means daily living activities, which means you will someday transition
from an active lifestyle to needing assistance with daily living activities.

3. 2. You have choices. You and your family may use your resources or telephone or
write to your Health Insurer, Medicare, Veterans Benefits, or other social services to
ask how and where they will pay for your caregiving.
3. Owning an LTC plan allows you and your family to decide where and with whom
you want assistance with your daily living activities.
4. LTC benefit payments paid to you or a care agency are not subject to income
taxes.
5. If you are a Corporation, Partnership, or LLC, some or all of your premiums may
be deductible.