Michigan Social Security Disability Law Blog

An accident that results in a permanent disabling injury or the birth of a special needs child can force people to assume a lifelong care giving role. As the number of people with severe disabilities, debilitating chronic diseases and terminal illnesses grows, concern about their care has focused primarily on long-term care facilities, nursing homes, home health aides and hospices. Relatively little official attention has been paid to those who provide the overwhelming amount of services for people, both young and old, who are unable to care for themselves.

Various surveys have found that 20 million to 50 million family members in the United States provide care that was traditionally performed by nurses and social workers. Family caregivers supply about 80 percent of the care for ill or disabled relatives, and the need for their services will only rise as the population ages and modern medicine improves its ability to prolong lives.

Financial burdens can also complicate matters, especially when the family caregiver is forced to quit a job or cut back on outside work for pay. About a third of family caregivers lose most or all of their savings as a result of care giving, studies have shown. Family caregivers provide an estimated $237 billion in unpaid services a year.

Most family caregivers have no training for the physically and emotionally demanding tasks they undertake. And many are struggling themselves with age-related disabilities and chronic ailments. Others are members of the so-called “sandwich generation” who must juggle care giving with paying jobs and the needs of their own family.

It is important family members and caregivers know their options for help. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) has five programs that offer services to eligible persons in the home: