Health Affairs Blog: Protecting Healthcare’s Family Caregivers Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
Health Affairs Blog: Protecting Healthcare’s Family Caregivers Amidst The COVID-19 Pandemic
Health Affairs has published a blog, "Protecting Healthcare’s Family Caregivers Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic," by Eli M. Cahan, Terry Fulmer and Nirav R. Shah.
In the US, more than 40 million family caregivers provide care to 19 million adults and 6 million children with functional limitations. The blog discusses the health and financial risks to family caregivers during the current coronavirus pandemic.
The authors detail five steps that can be rapidly taken now by public, private, and community leaders to protect family caregivers:
- National, state, and local health leaders must ensure that caregivers have adequate safety equipment and other protections against infection.
- Health providers should make a deliberate effort to integrate caregivers into the formal health care delivery system.
- The private sector must provide workplace flexibility, sufficient benefits, and financial security—at least in the near term—for employees who have stepped into the role of caregivers.
- Public and private insurers should extend benefits that address the specific needs of caregivers.
- Local community organizations must act in solidarity as stewards of the more tailored needs caregivers may have.
To read the blog, click here.