Health advocates expect Hawaii’s caregiver ratio to plummet just as baby boomers age into their 80s, a critical time when they need assistance the most.
The pool of family caregivers will be less than half of what it is today, a new report from AARP shows. The report, "The Aging of the Baby Boom and the Growing Care Gap," released last week, estimates the ratio of family caregivers to seniors 80 years and older will plunge from 6-to-1 today to fewer than 4-to-1 in 2030.
The AARP Public Policy Institute study also anticipates the scarcity of family caregivers between 2030 and 2050 will exacerbate the emotional, physical and financial burden on future caregivers.
"About half of older Hawaii residents believe they will be able to rely on their families to meet their needs when they need long-term care," said Gerry Silva, Hawaii state president for AARP, a senior advocacy group with 148,000 local members.
"But this confidence is likely to erode when it collides with the dramatically shrinking availability of family caregivers in the future."
Caregiving has consumed Enchanted Lakes resident Ken Takeya’s life for seven years. His wife, Charlotte, 69, suffers from a form of dementia.
"It became my job. It was important enough because she is my wife and it’s my responsibility," said Takeya, also 69.
It also grew to be too expensive to use a caregiving service at $25 an hour, he said, adding that eventually he started to make less money while working than he was paying out.
"In the meantime, I was forced to educate myself and learn how to do it," Takeya said. "Each caregiver now needs to pass down this information to people who are going to end up being caregivers. Because it’s critical."
As the number of octogenarians increases nationally over the next two decades, the amount of primary caregivers will remain flat, the report said. The study estimates that by 2050, there will be three times as many baby boomers in that category as there are today.
"In just 13 years, as the baby boomers age into their 80s, the decline in the caregiver support ratio will shift from a slow decline to a free fall," according to the report that calculated the number of people in the most common caregiving age range (ages 45 to 64) by the number of older people most likely needing long term services (ages 80 and older).
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» The study by AARP can be found at bit.ly/156phYi
