Tag Archives for AARP Michigan

New AARP Report: Unpaid Care Skyrockets to over $1 Trillion

Published in RINewsToday on April 6, 2025

AARP’s latest report reveals a staggering surge in the economic value of unpaid family caregiving, now exceeding $1 trillion. Since 2006, AARP’s Public Policy Institute has tracked this value through its Valuing the Invaluable reports. Last week, at a virtual media briefing, the organization released its seventh report, Valuing the Invaluable 2026: Family Caregivers’ Contribution Reaches $1 Trillion,  delivering a strong message: in 2024, family caregivers provided nearly 50 billion hours of mostly uncompensated care—valued at a whopping $1.01 trillion. Sixteen years earlier, AARP estimated the value of uncompensated care was just $350 billion.

 Building on the previous data, the 9-page report, released on March 26, 2026, by AARP’s Public Policy Institute, emphasizes throughout that caregiving impacts not just families, but also the economy, labor market, and healthcare system.

 It estimates that 59 million caregivers contributed a total of 49.5 billion hours of care each year, valued at $20.41 per hour. Using the Caregiving in the US 2025 data set (which uses new statistical methods that incorporate the range of tasks and support that family caregivers provide), this amounts to about $1.01 trillion annually. For comparison, family caregivers’ economic contribution surpasses the combined federal, state, and local Medicare spending in 2024 ($931.7 billion) and nearly doubles out-of-pocket health care spending ($556.6 billion).

 To further accentuate the magnitude, the report calculates that the nearly 49.5 billion hours of uncompensated care provided annually equal the labor of about 24 million full-time workers—that’s 17% of the nation’s full-time workforce.

According to the AARP report, American adults spend as much time on caregiving duties as on everyday activities, such as housecleaning and preparing meals, and almost twice as much time as they spend on religious activities and volunteering combined.

This unpaid care—delivered by caregivers to older adults, neighbors, and friends—enables millions to remain independent in their homes and communities. The report warns that, without this assistance, millions of Americans would be forced to rely on assisted living or costly nursing facility care, resulting in significantly higher costs for public programs such as Medicaid. However, it also recognizes that this support comes at a steep personal cost to caregivers, often undermining their health, emotional state, financial security, and general well-being.

 Beyond national implications, AARP’s caregivers report also provides state-by-state estimates of the number of caregivers, total hours provided, economic value, and the average hourly value of care.

These state figures, for example, show that the estimated value of caregiving ranges from $14.12 per hour in Louisiana to $27.05 per hour in Washington, reflecting regional differences. In Rhode Island, approximately 155,000 family caregivers provide 111 million hours of unpaid care, valued at $2.8 billion, or about $25.07 per hour.

Continuing this deeper look, the AARP report finds that family caregivers now provide more care than ever, averaging 27 hours per week. More than half—57%—deliver high-intensity care: tasks such as bathing, dressing, wound care, and administering injections.

 Presser Announces New Caregiver Report’s Release

 To explore the report’s findings in greater depth, AARP convened a 40-minute panel moderated by Ilse Zuniga, Director of External Relations. This discussion brought together Dr. Myesha Minter-Jordan (AARP CEO), Nancy LeaMond (Executive Vice President and Chief Engagement Officer), Paula Cunningham (AARP Michigan State Director), Rita B. Choula (Senior Director at AARP’s Public Policy Institute and lead author), and Megan O’Reilly (Government Affairs Department).

During the panel, Dr. Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s CEO and physician, addressed the 30 journalists present, stating that family caregivers are underwriting a service that millions depend on daily.

 She emphasized that, with family caregiving now exceeding $1 trillion annually, employers, healthcare providers, and policymakers must do more to recognize and support caregivers as they fill essential gaps in the healthcare system.

Dr. Jordan said caregiver stories are powerful and often painful, stressing that AARP is working to magnify these voices and advocate for concrete policies that recognize caregivers’ economic contributions.

 “Given that most Americans will either be a caregiver or need one at some point in their lives, we need to do better,” Dr. Jordan told the journalists.

 “AARP is supporting bold solutions to assist America’s caregivers, says Dr. Jordan. “These include a national paid family and medical leave policy, as well as greater respite services and resources, such as those offered in states through partnerships with United Way and AARP’s 211 Caregiver Support Hotline.”

She concluded that the released report should be a wake-up call and an opportunity for action, hoping that it will drive real, long-lasting change.

Nancy LeaMond, AARP Executive Vice President and Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, noted, “Caregiving is not simply a family issue; it’s a labor force, economic, and healthcare issue that compels action. Behind every data point is a person—a daughter, husband, grandchild, or neighbor.”  

According to LeaMond, AARP has been working relentlessly to raise caregiving as a national priority and to push for common-sense, bipartisan solutions that can save caregivers time and money.

LeaMond added that the organization has worked to raise the visibility of caregiving, making it a national priority at both the state and federal levels. She noted, “Oklahoma became the first state in 2023 to pass a comprehensive state-wide caregiver tax credit to put money back in the pockets of family caregivers,” with Nebraska following the next year.

Additionally, she stated that 12 other states have considered enacting statewide caregiver tax credit legislation during the 2026 legislative session.

LeaMond further reported that on Capitol Hill, AARP has been advancing legislation such as the Credit for Caring Act, which offers a $5,000 federal tax credit to offset caregiving expenses, and the Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act, which allows family caregivers to use Health Savings Accounts or Flexible Savings Accounts for care expenses for parents.

Paula Cunningham added a personal dimension, relating stories to illustrate the intense, unceasing nature of caregiving. She narrated stories of caregivers forced to draw from their savings or reduce work commitments, such as Deb Conja, an attorney from Okemos, Michigan, who left her job to care for her mother.

She also shared the experience of a Detroit military veteran who, after two tours of service, described caregiving for her mother as the hardest job she’s ever had—an indication of the intensity of these responsibilities.

“Navigating through who to call and when to call, and what kind of services are available is another layer of stress that we’re trying to help reduce,” says Cunningham. She noted that AARP Michigan is calling for funding for a Caregiving Resource Center to provide one-stop online shopping and connect 1.6 million Michigan caregivers across the state with the support services they need.  

 AARP Michigan is also pushing to expand access to funding for home- and community-based services that are necessary for caregivers to stay in the workplace, says Cunningham.

 Finally, during the Q&A, Megan O’Reilly from AARP’s government affairs department responded to Politico journalist Robert King about whether a federal crackdown on fraud in personal care services could undermine governmental efforts to support family caregivers. “Fraud is a crime, and those who commit fraud should be held accountable. But we have to make sure that we’re protecting the care and the need for the essential care and services that our communities and loved ones need to remain at home…,” she said.  

 In response to a question, Rita B. Choula, the AARP report’s lead author, provided extra insights as to how the economic value of care was calculated for the latest report.  

Today, caregiving encompasses much more than just taking someone to a provider’s office, paying bills, or even mowing the lawn, says Choula, noting that the economic value of care must account for the complexity of the care provided.  “Individuals are now doing things in the home that medical providers and professionals were trained to do,” she notes, explaining that these new duties have resulted in using a higher hourly wage to calculate the cost of unpaid care.  

AARP provides resources to help families navigate the myriad of caregiving challenges by connecting them to reliable resources in every state. AARP’s state-by-state Family Caregiver Resource Guides help family caregivers access key programs, services, and agencies right in their community. Additionally, through its partnership with United Way Worldwide, caregivers can access local support services in 28 states by calling 211, including help finding in-home care, respite care, transportation, and other essential services.

A Final Note…

Urgent policy action must be taken by Congress and state legislatures to provide the concrete financial support needed to deliver real financial relief and structural support for America’s caregivers through measures such as tax credits and paid family leave. It is the right thing to do!

Cap on out— of-pocket costs for Medicare drug plan enrollees coming soon

Published in RINewsToday on September 2, 2024 

Back on Aug. 16th in 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA), it’s enactment lowering the health cost for millions of older Americans by lowering the high cost of prescription drugs by granting Medicare the power to directly negotiate drug prices with drug companies.  Rising drug costs were forcing some Medicare beneficiaries to cut their expenses by not filling a prescription or even skipping doses. This could lead to complications and side effects resulting in hospitalization, even death.

“AARP was instrumental in Congress passing the prescription drug law of 2022 to lower prices and out-of-pocket costs for Medicare enrollees,” said Jo Ann Jenkins, CEO of AARP in an Aug. 28 statement announcing the release of AARP’s new report. “As we approach January 2025, we want every senior in America to know that, thanks to the new annual cap which limits their out-of-pocket costs, they will have more money to invest in their families, spend on their broader health needs or simply save to achieve greater financial stability.”

Virtual Media Briefing Details Impact on IRA law

Last week, the Washington, DC-based AARP briefed the media on the state-level impact of the historic new federal protection for 56 million Medicare drug plan enrollees. The new law caps out-of-pocket prescription drug costs every year, beginning at $2,000 in January 2025. 

The nine-page Public Policy Institute report, released at the virtual media briefing, analyzes the number of enrollees (not receiving the Medicare low-income subsidy) that will benefit from the new cap by state, age, gender, and race between 2025 and 2029.

Nancy LeaMond, the chief advocacy and engagement officer for AARP, say putting the brakes to spiraling drug cost by enacting the IRA put money back into the pockets of millions of America’s retirees purchasing pharmaceuticals for their medical conditions. “Upwards of 95% of Americans, age 65 and older, have at least one chronic condition and close to 80% are dealing with 2 or more chronic conditions,” says LeaMond, like diabetes and heart disease, to debilitating neurological diseases like Parkinson’s and Ms.

“Prescription drugs are a lifeline, said LeaMond, stressing that medicine is only effective if you have the money to pay for it. The passage of IRA two years ago is already having a significant and positive impact on millions of Medicare beneficiaries who now don’t pay more than $35 a month for insulin and get free vaccines for things like shingles,” she noted. 

“There are even bigger savings coming down the pike, starting in January 2025. The total amount that folks enrolled in Medicare drug plans pay out of pocket for their prescriptions will be capped at $2,000 a year,” reports LeaMond.  

During the media briefing, Leigh Purvis, Prescription Drug Policy Principal, AARP Public Policy Institute, stated “one of the biggest challenges in the original Medicare Part D benefit was the lack of a cap on out-of-pocket spending.”  Even after reaching a certain limit, Medicare beneficiaries were still required to pay 5% of their drug costs, with no limit for those on expensive Medications, she said.

According to Purvis, out of pocket expenses could exceed $10,000 per year, “an unmanageable amount for anyone, but especially for a population with a Median annual income of $36,000. Because of this, AARP pushed for the inclusion of a cap on out-of-pocket spending for Medicare Part D, to be included in the IRA, she said.  And it was…

Purvis noted that 3 million Part D beneficiaries (who don’t receive the Medicare Part D low-income subsidy are expected to benefit from the $2,000 cap in 2025.  This number is expected to grow to over 4 million by 2029.  These Medicare drug plan enrollees would see average savings of roughly $1,100, or 56%, in 2025 for their prescription drugs. 

Purvis also gave a few other takeaways from the report.  On average,  approximately 1.4 million (40 percent) Medicare drug plan enrollees who reach the new out-of-pocket cap between 2025 and 2029 are estimated to see annual savings of $1,000 or more, and just over 420,000 (12 percent) will see savings of more than $3,000.  In addition, more than three-quarters of Medicare drug plan enrollees who will benefit in 2025 are between the ages of 65 and 84.

Finally, Paula Cunningham, AARP Michigan State Director (discussing  results of a state survey) and Diana Devito , who has lived with chronic lymphocytic leukemia for over 19 years, participated in the media briefing. Both reinforced  how the report’s numbers aren’t just statistics, they represent real people “who are being forced to make impossible choices.” 

Cunningham told a “heartbreak” story about a woman who had lost her husband, and she had to sell her wedding ring in order to pay for her prescription drugs. “She’s now deceased, but I will never forget her story, or the stories of people across this great state that we met who had to make difficult choices between paying rent or buying groceries to pay for their medications,” she said.

After experiencing the high prescription costs for treating life-threatening chronic disorder, Devito came to share how important a $2,000 cap can be “for people like me.”  She said, “It’s a real-life changer,” noting that everyone doesn’t understand that. “If you’re not taking one of these expensive drugs, you don’t realize the impact that it has on your life,” she added.

On Another Note…

U.S. Senator Jack Reed brings to my attention another Congressional report that details the Rhode Island specific data as to the impact of IRA on older Rhode Islanders.

According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee (CJEC), this year, about 57,000 Rhode Island Medicare beneficiaries will save an average of roughly $200 each year because of IRA’s improvement to the Medicare Part D drug coverage. By 2025 this number would increase to 68,000 retirees, saving them an annual average of $340 on prescription drugs.

By allowing Medicare to negotiate with drug companies to bargain down the high cost of many lifesaving drugs, 29,000 retirees use drugs that are with the new negotiated prices, says the CJEC report.

For a copy of AARP Public Policy Institute’s Medicare Part D Out-of-Pocket Spending Cap, go to https://www.aarp.org/pri/topics/health/prescription-drugs/medicare-part-d-out-of-pocket-spending-cap-prescription-drug-costs/.

To learn more about AARP’s work to lower prescription drug prices, visit https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/advocacy/prescription-drugs/.

For a copy of CJEC’s report, go to https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/356ae3d2-af5e-4d32-bd42-fafc548173c5/ri-cost-savings-fact-sheet.pdf

For details how the IRA impacts older Rhode Island retirees, go to https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Rhode-Island-Health-Care.pdf