Will paid home care erode informal support?

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Health Economics
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Policymakers fear expanding paid home care may reduce informal caregiving by family and friends.
• Understanding the interplay between formal and informal care is crucial for long-term care policy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether increased use of paid home care affects the amount of informal support received by disabled elderly individuals.
• To determine if formal care erodes informal caregiving networks.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the first wave of the National Long-Term Care Survey.
• Employed a two-stage least squares regression analysis to examine the relationship between paid and informal home care.

Main Results:

• The amount of informal home care received was not significantly affected by the level of formal care utilization.
• This finding remained consistent across subgroups, including those without cognitive impairment, higher-income individuals, and those living alone.
• Even severely disabled elderly individuals did not substitute paid care for unpaid care.

Conclusions:

• Increased provision of paid home care is unlikely to diminish informal caregiving support.
• Policy initiatives to expand paid home care can proceed without the anticipated negative impact on informal care networks.