For a decade, Alma Valencia has assumed the task of caring for his mother Arminda, who suffers from frontotemporal dementia. “I have become who bathes her, wears her, feeds her, as if she were a girl except that she is my adult mom (…) has been a difficult, tired, emotional experience,” Valencia says about functioning as the nurse of her relative, and the expense that implies doing this unpaid work.
Valencia is one of millions of people in the United States who have assumed in recent years the work of caring for a loved one who needs additional attention for issues such as aging, disabilities or diseases. And those millions of people could soon be seen in more trouble for the cuts that the federal government is doing to services such as Medicaid.
A new report by the AARP group and the National Care Alliance reveals that more than 63 million adults in the country – around a quarter of the entire population Over 18 years in the United States – he carries out these care at home, and who does it in an unpaid way. The number of home caregivers has increased by 45% in the last decade. “It is an invisible workforce that strengthens our families and our communities,” says non -profit associations.
Of those 63 million, at least 16% are Latin, That the report also indicates are more likely to have to perform multiple daily assistance tasks, such as taking to the bathroom, feeding and helping to move to your loved one, according to the study.
Frequently these caregivers do these tasks without having additional support from nursing personnel, and on many occasions without being able to receive formal medical training, having that having to Self -school to change catheters OA Inject medications. More than half of the people surveyed by AARP says he assumed the task because he had no choice, for issues such as the financial cost of getting external help or resorting to an assisted life center.
And many of these unpaid caregivers not only have a larger relative under their care: a third of those 65 million care so much about an adult with a disability or complex medical needs as for children Minors than 18, according to the AARP report.
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“I have to try to balance the giving my children an childhood as normal as possible while taking care of my mother, but neither leave my husband or stop making time for friendships,” says Valencia.
“It ends up being an act of jugarism that It implies giving me a little And yet to look for time for self -care, because if you do not fall for total exhaustion, “he adds, in reference to the call Caregiver Burnout, being emotionally and mentally exhausted for taking care of others. AARP’s report found that one in five caregivers ends up suffering from their own health problems due to how they overflow to help others.
It is difficult, and now it could be even more: given the cuts planned to services such as Medicaid by the Government of the Republican President, Donald Trump, mechanisms that served as a friend or lifeguard could disappear.
They are things that are gradually removing, that they will accumulate such that they will hit our day to day “
Alma Valencia
Among them, the Medical Care Services Program and the Community (HCBS) that in some states offers a stipend to those who take care of their loved ones at home, to help Tax topics such as medications or day care centers.
Valencia comments that this type of programs is a very needy relief because it estimates that in itself your family reaches allocate about $ 20,000 a year to non -refundable direct expenses (called Out of Pocket In English) for topics that include making home arrangements, such as the installation of ramps.
Like her, many Latin caregivers and other demographic groups end up spending more than they expected to perform care tasks: 22% reported to AARP that they have borrowed as a result.
Likewise, one in five caregivers said that by assuming these tasks he has had to pay late – or until he stopped paying for a while – the water or electricity accounts, and one in four said that he has had to spend everything he had saved in the short term.
The financial impact, which many Latin caregivers report as especially intense, could become heavier for the budget cuts ordered by the federal government.
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In fact, Valencia, who lives in California, says he is already Starting to notice changes As for what is accessible through Medicaid, even before they enter completely in force with budget reductions towards the end of the year.
“The day attendance program that I take to my mother had a car collection service until recently, to help with transport. And that can no longer offer it,” he says. “They are things that are gradually removing, that they will accumulate such that they will hit our day to day.”
Approximately 8 million people who exercise the work of caring for other relatives also depend on Medicaid for their own medical care, and 11 million receive through the stipendian program such as HCBS, according to Jason Resendez, president and executive director of the National Alliance for Care (National Alliance for Caregiving).
“It is highly likely that those support roads begin to disappearbecause many states will have to make difficult decisions what to continue costing now that they have less budget for Medicaid, “Resendez said in an event this Thursday to present the AARP report.
“In the past we have already seen that when states have less money and have to cut services, they usually get rid of benefits such as HCBs,” Resendez added.
The schedules planned for Medicaid through Trump’s megaley budget will also lead to changes in the minimum hours required to receive benefits. Resendez said that will also affect those who do caregivers, who often have part -time jobs Above the care work, with which they will not necessarily be able to accumulate the necessary hours without having to reduce their ability to seek to needy relatives.
For this reason, according to Resendez, it is necessary that public policies do not lose sight of this population of 65 million caregivers, either through possible financial aid such as tax credits to pay less taxes or measures to receive formal medical training who perform home care.
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The AARP report indicates that since 2020 ha Increased by 45% the number of unpaid caregivers At home, what specialists such as Resendez attribute to issues such as more and more older adults in the American population.
“We have more people who live for a longer time, but not with better health,” he said. “The United States has the largest world gap between life expectancy and healthy longevity.”
The increase of relatives making unworthy caregivers could become more pronounced towards the following years due to both cuts and immigration actions of the Trump government, according to specialists.
This, because many immigrant people work as a nurse from elderly people or with disabilities.
The United States has the greatest world gap between life expectancy and healthy longevity “
Jason Resendez CEO National Alliance for Care
Immigrants whose legal status is under threat by the restrictions of the Trump administration to programs such as the status of temporary protection or TPS, with which hundreds of thousands of people from places like Venezuela had work permits for work including nursing.
If more families lose that formal support, they may have to assume the work of caregivers directly as Valencia has done.
The work of caring for a needed love His life has purpose.
This feeling is especially reported by Latin people: six out of ten Hispanic caregivers say that the work makes them feel valuable, compared to 51% of caregivers in general.
Another positive aspect that AARP says has given some relief in recent years to the burden of being a home caregiver is technology, for issues that include using financial planning apps or being able to use smart monitors or watches with which the status of the loved one to take care of.
Technology has offered another measure of well -being to people like Valencia: to have a sense of community By sharing your experiences in social networks.
“Thus we can see among us how we are, share resources and valuable information,” says Valencia, who publishes his experiences as an Instagram caregiver in the CareGiver Comadre account.
“I think that especially in the Latin community it is important to share our stories as caregivers, which sometimes we do not do it for privacy. But it serves to normalize what we live, to help each other,” he says.
