“I Don’t Do It for the Money”

2021 ◽  
pp. 150-156
Author(s):  
Richard Schweid
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Home Health Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Home Health ◽  
Unskilled Labor ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care For The Elderly ◽  
To Receive

This chapter highlights the need for public policy to change how we value the work of home health aides (HHAs). Communities continue to relegate the work that HHAs do to the category of menial labor, when in fact it is something much more important and difficult to do well, more a profession than unskilled labor. In 2019, the number of HHAs for elderly Americans fell far short of those needed in many locales. Mean-spirited, xenophobic immigration policies may soon further reduce the numbers of people who are available to care for the elderly. Without enough people to do this work, the United States will move deeper into a second-rate nationhood. If there are not enough aides to go around, private-pay care will grow more expensive, and public long-term care at home will be reduced or eliminated for many, while wait times to receive what care is left will increase. Ultimately, people's lives will be of less quality than they might have been, and they may die sooner than necessary. The chapter then outlines a number of specific plans which have been elaborated to show how a better system of home health care might be funded in the United States.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Richard Schweid
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Activities Of Daily Living ◽  
Home Health Care ◽  
Daily Living ◽  
Current System ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Home Health ◽  
Turnover Rates

This introductory chapter provides an overview of home health care in the United States. Most Americans over sixty-five want to grow old at home, but the reality is that to do so, the majority of them will eventually need someone to help with what are called activities of daily living, those things basic to maintaining life, like eating, bathing, and using the toilet, and with the instrumental activities of daily living, such as cooking and cleaning. The millions of women employed as aides to help the elderly with these tasks in the United States are treated as menial laborers, paid minimum wage, often with no benefits, although the job they are doing is critically important to both our personal well-being and that of society as a whole. Given the low pay and stressful work, it is not surprising that home health aides have one of the highest turnover rates of any job. This book then analyzes what is wrong in the current system of providing home care to the elderly and how those deficiencies might be remedied.

Culture and Long-Term Care: The Bath as Social Service in Japan

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Traphagan
Keyword(s):  
Home Health Care ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Family Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Feature ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Term Care

A central feature of Japan’s approach to community-based care of the elderly, including long-term home health care, is the emphasis on providing bath facilities. For mobile elders, senior centers typically provide a public bathing facility in which people can enjoy a relaxing soak along with friends who also visit the centers. In terms of in-home long-term care, visiting bath services are provided to assist family care providers with the difficult task of bathing a frail or disabled elder—a task made more problematic as a result of the Japanese style of bathing. I argue that the bath, as social service, is a culturally shaped solution to a specific problem of elder care that arises in the Japanese context as a result of the importance of the bath in everyday life for Japanese. While the services may be considered specific to Japan, some aspects of bathing services, particularly the mobile bath service, may also have applicability in the United States.

A Will and a Way, What the United States Can Learn from Canada about Caring for the Elderly. R.L. Kane and R.A. Kane, New York: Columbia University Press, 1985 ($35.00).

1987 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neena L. Chappell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Good Resource

SUMMARYIn A Will and a Way, Kane and Kane have once again demonstrated their ability to accumulate masses of data. This book offers a wealth of descriptive information on three long term care systems in Canada, as well as some of the features of these systems which may be appropriate for the United States (such as universal programs based on need, case management practices, panelling practices, and size of jurisdiction). Those interested in specific practical questions and/or figures on utilization will find this book a good resource. However, those interested in a broader discussion from a theoretically informed perspective or a good discussion of existing research in this area will be disappointed.

Long-Term Care for the Elderly

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madonna Harrington Meyer ◽  
Jessica Hausauer
Keyword(s):  
Long Term Care ◽  
Current System ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Care For The Elderly ◽  
Long Term Care Insurance ◽  
Future Policy

Despite the growing need for long-term care, the United States does not have a coherent set of long-term care policies. The existing patchwork of programs and services can be difficult for patients and their families to understand and fails to adequately support many of those in need of care. This chapter traces the historical background of long-term care policy and assesses the three formal channels through which individuals currently navigate long-term care. It addresses the strengths and weaknesses of long-term care coverage briefly through Medicare and private long-term care insurance, and much more fully through Medicaid. The chapter concludes by focusing on families, particularly women, who continue to provide extensive care through informal care work. It is the most vulnerable older and disabled Americans, particularly those who are women, black and Hispanic, and single, and their families who face the greatest difficulties under the current system and who will be most affected by future policy changes.

Tuberculosis in Long-Term–Care Facilities

2000 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 611-616 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip W. Smith ◽  
Shobita Rajagopalan ◽  
Thomas T. Yoshikawa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Clinical Manifestations ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Community Dwelling ◽  
Infection Prevention And Control ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Term Care

AbstractThe geriatric population represents the largest reservoir ofMycobacterium tuberculosisinfection in developed nations, including the United States. Tuberculosis (TB) case rates in the United States are highest for this age group compared with other age categories. The subtle clinical manifestations of TB in the elderly often can pose potential diagnostic dilemmas and therapeutic challenges, resulting in increased morbidity and mortality in this age group; this treatable infection unfortunately often is detected only at autopsy. Compared with their community-dwelling counterparts, the institutionalized elderly are at a greater risk both for reactivation of latent TB and for the acquisition of new TB infection. Prevention and control of TB in facilities providing long-term care to the elderly thus cannot be overemphasized.

scholarly journals Insuring Long-Term Care in the United States

2011 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R Brown ◽  
Amy Finkelstein
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
Private Insurance ◽  
Insurance Coverage ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
The United States ◽  
Term Care ◽  
Variable Nature ◽  
Long Term Care Insurance

Long-term care expenditures constitute one of the largest uninsured financial risks facing the elderly in the United States and thus play a central role in determining the retirement security of elderly Americans. In this essay, we begin by providing some background on the nature and extent of long-term care expenditures and insurance against those expenditures, emphasizing in particular the large and variable nature of the expenditures and the extreme paucity of private insurance coverage. We then provide some detail on the nature of the private long-term care insurance market and the available evidence on the reasons for its small size, including private market imperfections and factors that limit the demand for such insurance. We highlight how the availability of public long-term care insurance through Medicaid is an important factor suppressing the market for private long-term care insurance. In the final section, we describe and discuss recent long-term care insurance public policy initiatives at both the state and federal level.

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