Where Clinton and Trump Stand on Caregiving and Long-Term Care

Considering that Americans 65 and older are the demographic group most likely to vote, it is astounding how little the major parties’ presidential candidates have talked about two issues that loom so large in older adults’ lives: caregiving and long-term care. About 34 million Americans provided unpaid care to an adult 50 or older in 2014, according to a 2015 report by the National Alliance for Caregiving and AARP. Half of those so-called “informal” caregivers were caring for a parent or parent-in-law. And the impact of that caregiving on their pocketbooks is profound. About one in five said caregiving created a financial strain on them. The availability and affordability of long-term care is another growing concern for the aging boomer population. About 8 million people received long-term care services in 2012, according to the Centers for the Disease Control. Those services those provide through home health care, nursing homes, assisted living centers, adult day centers and hospice care. Among people 65 or older, 69 percent will develop disabilities and 35 percent will enter a nursing home at some point, according to a 2007 Urban Institute study. This article details Trump’s and Clinton’s stands on issues relating to caregiving and long-term care. It is the fourth in a series of Next Avenue’s Election 2016 blog posts on where presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump stand on key issues of interest to Americans over 50. The first article was about where they stand on Social Security. The second article was about health care and Medicare. The third article explored their views and policies on retirement security.

Source/more: Next Avenue

David Wingate is an elder law attorney at the Elder Law Office of David Wingate, LLC. The elder law office services clients with powers of attorneys, living wills, Wills, Trusts, Medicaid and asset protection. The Elder Law office has locations in Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland.