Family caregivers are seeing support from a bipartisan, bicameral caucus that will target policies to support those families while educating lawmakers about the nation’s caregiving crisis.
The Assisting Caregivers Today, or ACT, Caucus was re-launched by Reps. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA), along with Sens. Michael Bennett (D-CO) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV).
The purpose of the caucus is to raise awareness about the challenges that family caregivers face and to bring attention to the issues caregivers of all backgrounds face. According to a news release from Dingell, almost 20 million US adults require assistance with activities of daily living due to physical, cognitive, developmental or behavioral conditions, and 53 million family caregivers contribute $600 billion worth of care annually.
Nancy LeaMond, executive vice president and chief advocacy and engagement officer for the AARP, called family caregivers “the backbone of a broken long-term care system.”
The caucus originally launched 2015 to focus on bringing attention to family caregivers as well as the challenges and opportunities individuals face when trying to live independently and the need for solutions. Back then, the AARP said that the caucus served as a forum to “engage those in the House of Representatives and Senate about family caregiving and living independently, to exchange ideas to to build bipartisan relationships that can lead to solutions.”
The caucus plans to interact with a broad array of stakeholders, including older adults, service providers, paid caregivers, employers, people with disabilities, the long-term care insurance industry, private and public payers, government officials, researchers and technology vendors.
