Are Caregivers of Older Adults Expected to “Gift” Hours of Care Above and Beyond their Compensation?

Caregiving has traditionally been viewed as part of family life, and as a personal obligation rather than a form of paid work. Even within programs that pay family members and non-family members to provide care to low-income older adults, caregivers have to negotiate the care they provide as paid caregivers with uncompensated “gift” assistance motivated by emotional attachment.

A new study in the December issue of The Milbank Quarterly looks at the blurred line between market and gift economies of care—and finds that policies that cut or restrict formal long-term services and supports for older adults can either push caregivers to provide more uncompensated care or leave older adults with unmet needs for care. Written by Jacqueline Torres from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues, the study also found that policies that assume that family caregivers can readily fill in gaps in care should be reassessed.