Demand Grows for Home-based Services

Long-term care is a pressing issue in the Sunshine State. Nearly 2.7 million family caregivers provide 2.5 billion hours of unpaid services annually to help their aging loved ones continue to live at home rather than placing them in nursing homes.

Home- and community-based services can relieve the burden on family caregivers by helping with such things as bathing, meals and transportation to medical appointments. But the waiting list for such services is long, and in fiscal year 2014-2015, more than 6,500 people on the list died.

With the November elections approaching, AARP is urging Floridians to ask legislative candidates what they would do to shrink the waiting list. AARP does not endorse candidates, but informs members about pending legislation, lawmakers’ voting records and candidates’ comments on matters affecting constituents age 50-plus.

According to the U.S. Census, the number of Floridians 65 and older will increase from 3.4 million in 2010 to nearly 7.8 million in 2030. Stay informed at aarp.org/fl.