09 May Putting your 5¢ in (No longer $.02 because of inflation)…
Why are you pushing this bill/bus? Because the bus is out of gas! We need to get this bill/bus refueled from the CA Senate appropriations committee. This is not a self-serve station. The mechanics in this shop decide who gets fuel (funding for bills and programs). Can CA afford to spend $3.3 million to “refuel” family caregivers?
According to data from AARP, approximately 4.5 million family caregivers in California provide care to an adult with limitations in daily activities. The economic value of the 3.85 million hours of unpaid labor provided by these California caregivers is approximately $47 billion. This is equivalent to 1.25 times total Medi-Cal spending. One-third of all California households contain at least one caregiver who provides 20+ unpaid hours a week.
So, caregivers have a $47 Billion savings account. Spending $3.3 million will keep thousands of caregivers and frail impaired adults and older adults out of more costly institutions such as hospitals and nursing homes. And you still have over $46 billion in the account.