Raise Family Cargivers Act Becomes Law

The U.S. Congress recently passed, and President Trump signed, the "Recognize, Assist, Include, Support and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregivers Act.” The RAISE Act aims to help relatives and partners who provide medical, household and financial assistance to loved ones, including those family members providing care for the elderly.

Senators Susan Collins (R-Maine, Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.),  Representatives Greg Harper (R-Miss.), and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) spearheaded the legislation.  The legislation was championed by AARP, the nation’s largest non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to older Americans, which rallied more than 60 aging and disability organizations in support, including the Elizabeth Dole Foundation, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Association. 

The RAISE  Act requires the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop, maintain and update an integrated national strategy to support family caregivers.  Nancy A. LeaMond, AARP’s chief advocacy and engagement officer,  said in an issued statement:  “Family caregivers are the backbone of our care system in America. We need to make it easier for them to coordinate care for their loved ones, get information and resources, and take a break so they can rest and recharge."  According to AARP, family caregivers “commonly experience emotional strain and mental health problems, especially depression, and have poorer physical health than noncaregivers.” And they rarely receive training in providing care.   Most family caregivers juggle work and caregiving. And 78 percent of them incur out-of-pocket costs due to caregiving, spending $6,954 a year, on average, according to AARP’s Family Caregiving and Out-of-Pocket Costs: 2016 Report.As a result, according to the 2016 Families Caring for an Aging America report, family caregivers for adults 65 and older are “stressed, isolated and often suffering financially.”

Under the RAISE Act, HHS will create a national family caregiver strategy by bringing together federal agencies and representatives from the private and public sectors (like family caregivers, health care providers, employers and state and local officials) in public advisory council meetings designed to make recommendations. The agency will have 18 months to develop its initial strategy and then must provide annual updates.  The RAISE Act also establishes an advisory body that will bring together stakeholders from the private and public sectors to make recommendations that communities, providers, government and others may take to help caregivers.

The goals of the strategy include identifying actions that government, communities, health providers, employers and others can take to support family caregivers, including:

• Promoting greater adoption of person-centered care and family-centered care in health settings and long-term care settings
• Training for family caregivers
• Respite services and options for family caregivers
• Ways to increase financial security for family caregivers
• Workplace policies to help family caregivers keep working
• Collecting and sharing of information about innovative family caregiving models
• Assessing federal programs around family caregiving
• Addressing disparities and meeting the needs of the diverse caregiving population

Forbes, in reporting on passage of the Act observed:

In the midst of one of the most divisive political landscapes in America’s history, members of Congress as well as President Donald Trump have shown there is one thing we can all agree on--caregiving.  

America’s family caregivers are eagerly waiting to see what effect the law will have on health care policy, and long term care.