How Employers Can Support the Fastest Growing Employee Group – Caregivers
9 Minutes
Team Curative
Aug 12, 2024
The pandemic years cast a spotlight on the crucial role caregivers play, not just within the familial sphere but, importantly, within our work environments. Given the rapidly aging population and shifting workplace dynamics, many are finding it harder and harder to juggle their professional responsibilities with caregiving duties. In fact, over half of Americans in their 40s, find themselves “sandwiched” between taking care of their aging parents and their own children. This has rendered support systems more essential than ever, with caregivers making up an increasingly significant segment of our workforce. If nurturing your talent is at the heart of a thriving workplace, then recognizing and bolstering our caregivers must be a cornerstone of this ethos. Not only does it alleviate the stress of the caregivers in the company, but the business sees a benefit with increases in productivity and a more diverse, multi-generational workforce.
A caregiver is anyone who regularly helps another person, adult or child, with their day-to-day needs. This can include raising children, or helping an ill spouse or partner, a disabled child, or an aging friend or relative. Caregivers often juggle full-time jobs and other responsibilities concurrently with caregiving duties, leading to higher stress rates among caregivers than non-caregivers. Caregivers in the “sandwich generation” are at higher risk of exhaustion, stress, and depression from the demand placed on them by their kids and elderly parents.
Many employees who are caregivers cannot find adequate caregiving support and often leave the labor force. Others stay at their jobs, but the pressure of balancing work and caregiving responsibilities can take a substantial toll on their mental well-being. Employers can support talent who juggle work and caregiving responsibilities by understanding the stress of caregiving and offering comprehensive, affordable health insurance plans.
Caregiving is a high-stress job
Caregiving can be very rewarding. For most caregivers, caring for a loved one feels good and can even make the relationship stronger. However, caregiving can be extremely stressful — especially when coupled with other responsibilities. The stress of caregiving can increase caregivers’ risk of developing health issues. Factors that can increase caregiver stress include:
Caring for a spouse
Caring for someone who requires constant care
Feeling alone
Feeling helpless or depressed
Experiencing financial problems
Having too little guidance from healthcare professionals
Having no choice about being a caregiver
Developing ineffective coping or problem-solving skills
Feeling pressured to give care at all times
Over time, too much stress can negatively impact a person’s health. Caregivers might feel depressed or anxious or fail to get adequate sleep, nutrition, and physical activity. Those factors can increase the risk of health conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. Plus, due to access and time constraints, caregivers may not be able to get the healthcare they need to address their own health concerns.
Seeking medical care for these concerns leads to more stress
The U.S. healthcare landscape makes it even more difficult for a caregiver to access healthcare. A recent survey highlighted some of the problems American consumers face with various types of health coverage. Nearly 6 in 10 people with insurance reported a problem with using their health insurance during the past year. The share increases to two-thirds for people in fair or poor health, three-fourths for those who need mental health services, and approximately 8 in 10 for people who use the healthcare system the most. Due to the complex healthcare system layout and lack of access to affordable health insurance, many people delay care or accumulate bills they cannot afford. Here are more statistics from a recent study that illustrate the stress of navigating and paying for healthcare, especially for caregivers:
Caregivers (55%) are significantly more likely to face barriers in understanding what is covered by insurance (69%) and in anticipating costs (44%) when compared to others.
Caregivers (59%) are significantly more likely to report that out-of-pocket expenses have prevented them from seeing a doctor compared to those without additional responsibilities (37%)
In many families, navigating the complex healthcare system and healthcare benefits falls to one person who is already responsible for caring for an ailing family member or children, leading to even more stress.
Consequences of caregiver burnout on workplaces
More than 60% of caregivers experience symptoms of burnout. Caregiver burnout is a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion that can happen when you take on the task of managing the health and safety of someone else. Caregivers who experience burnout may feel tired, stressed, withdrawn, anxious, and depressed. Caregiver burnout can impact physical, psychological, financial, and social health.
The stress of caregiving coupled with the burden of navigating complex healthcare benefits and services can be overwhelming. Employers can help support their talent by offering comprehensive, affordable health insurance plans.
How employers can support caregivers
As an employer, the best thing you can do to help talent who are caregivers is to offer comprehensive, easy-to-understand, affordable health insurance plans. Simple, high-engagement healthcare eases the burden on caregivers by making it easy for them to arrange care for themselves and their loved ones, if dependent care is offered.
Alongside affordability, look for the following services when choosing what health insurance plans to offer at your organization:
Initial visit. Every person should be encouraged to be an active participant in their care. An initial visit that can be used to tailor an individualized, preventive care plan and identify areas of opportunity and potential problems early on is key.
Care Navigator. The healthcare system is complex and difficult to navigate. Having a go-to person, such as a Care Navigator, can make the process easier. The right health insurance provides caregivers who are reachable by text, call, and email for help throughout members’ health journeys.
Access to preventive care. Preventive care reduces the risk of diseases, disabilities, and death, yet millions of people in the United States don’t get recommended preventive health care services. One health insurance provider notes three major benefits of encouraging preventive health awareness among employees: long-term cost savings, better health outcomes, and reduced medical debt. The best affordable health insurance plans for caregivers will make accessing preventive care services such as routine screenings, immunizations, and annual checkups.
Access to mental healthcare. A primary complaint of caregivers is stress and other mental health issues. That is why finding affordable health insurance plans that offer convenient, $0 mental health services is so important.
More and more employers are recognizing the benefit of taking care of their hardworking caregiver population, with 82% of surveyed employers saying child and senior care benefits improve productivity and nearly 80% helping them recruit employees and support a multi-generational workforce
Nearly 80% say child and senior care benefits help them recruit employees and support a multi-generational workforce
Curative: Helping employers help caregivers
Curative offers employer-sponsored affordable health insurance plans that put people first. Our goal is transparent pricing, benefits, and wellness incentives. That means we’re not only honest about our health plan, but we’re also frank about the state of the health insurance industry and how we’d like to change it. Curative helps employers provide caregivers with affordable health insurance plans.
Our approach to insurance prioritizes providing patients with access to healthcare. With Curative, patients can focus on healthcare, not cost. Our health plan delivers better health through affordability, engagement, and simplicity.
Access to $0 care: Finding in-network services – such as therapy – can take a lot of time, especially without help. We’ll help your talent find in-network services at zero cost to them, so they can take one more thing off their plate.
No-hassle meds: Access to medication is a huge part of comprehensive healthcare. Members have access to rapid medication delivery through the Curative Pharmacy. We can also help find an in-network pharmacy along with guidance on transferring and filling prescriptions. We’ll help ensure their medication is working properly and can offer guidance if they have questions about side effects or usage. No-hassle meds means your talent can focus on being their best self, both in and outside the workplace.
Support on your time: Our care team will help your talent stay on track with their care through one-on-one check-ins. We work around the work schedule and can provide support as frequently or as seldom as needed, so they can engage in their wellness while also being present in the workplace.
Virtual therapy: Today, many people are always on the go. That's why it's so important to give your talent the opportunity to utilize virtual care. Employees can tap into remote therapy through our partnerships with Teladoc and Televero. It's hassle-free to schedule appointments and get connected to a therapist within a week.
Cancer Screenings with Galleri: Curative offers eligible members no-cost access to the Galleri® multi-cancer early detection test from GRAIL. Galleri can help detect more than 50 types of cancer with a single blood test.
For more information on health insurance, Texas comprehensive care resources, and how Curative can help you cultivate better employee mental health in your organization, visit our members page.
To see all disclaimers, please view them here.
References
Urban Institute. The US Population Is Aging. https://www.urban.org/policy-centers/cross-center-initiatives/program-retirement-policy/projects/data-warehouse/what-future-holds/us-population-aging#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20Americans%20ages,The%20nation%20is%20aging.
Mayo Clinic Staff (2023, August). Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/caregiver-stress/art-20044784.
Pollitz, Karen, et al. (2023, June). KFF Survey of Consumer Experiences with Health Insurance. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/mental-health/poll-finding/kff-survey-of-consumer-experiences-with-health-insurance/.
Lopes, Luna, et al. (2024, March). Americans’ Challenges with Health Care Costs. Kaiser Family Foundation. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/americans-challenges-with-health-care-costs/.
Cleveland Clinic (2023, August). Caregiver Burnout. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9225-caregiver-burnout.
How status quo employer-based health insurance fails Americans. Curative. (n.d.). https://curative.com/coverage-uncovered
Horowitz, J. (2022, April). More than half of Americans in their 40s are ‘sandwiched’ between an aging parent and their own children. Pew Research Cetner. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/08/more-than-half-of-americans-in-their-40s-are-sandwiched-between-an-aging-parent-and-their-own-children/
Fleming, L. (2022, May). Caregivers Caught in the Middle—How the Overworked Sandwich Generation Can Cope. Very Well Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/the-sandwich-generation-and-mental-health-5271123
