Table 1.

Examples of Existing U.S. Policies and Financial Initiatives

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 guarantees up to 12 workweeks of unpaid leave to each leave year to qualifying employees for specified family and medical leave reasons and, pursuant to amendments to the law, up to 26 workweeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for a seriously ill or injured covered service member.

The National Family Caregiver Support Program, established in 2000 under Title III-E of the Older Americans Act, provides grants to States and Territories, based on their share of the population aged 70 years and over, to fund a range of supports that assist family and informal caregivers to care for their loved ones at home for as long as possible. Individuals served include adults (>18 years) caring for a family member who is either 60 years or older or has Alzheimer's disease and related disorders and cognitive dysfunction. The law requires the state to give priority to elderly individuals with cognitive problems.

The Lifespan Respite Care Act of 2006 aimed to create a system of accessible community-based respite care services for family caregivers of children or adults with special needs. Each state Lifespan Respite Care Program involves a partnership between a state agency, a state respite coalition, and an ADRC. The ADRC serves as a single point of entry for individuals seeking long-term care services and administers certain aspects of the state's long-term care system. The ARDC and the state agency may be a single integrated entity.

Many Medicaid home and community-based service waivers contain a “self-” or “participant-directed” component that allows the waiver recipient to select and pay their own caregivers, including family caregivers.

Caregiver Advise, Record, Enable Act mandates that before hospital discharge, a family caregiver is identified and provided with relevant training to foster optimal discharge planning.

Acts under consideration: (S.1028) Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage Family Caregivers Act of 2017; (S.311) Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Ac; (S.759) Credit for Caring Act.

Adapted from Ref. 4.

ADRC, Aging and Disability Resource Center.