Texas Lawmakers Urged to Boost Funding for Caregiver Respite

Nearly four years ago, Laurie Tilley quit her job as a hotel manager to care for her father at home. “You can’t leave a 90-year-old with dementia by themselves,” she said of her father, William Haas. “I’m here 24/7.”

Tilley, 62, and her husband, Gene, 63, make breakfast and dinner for Haas, manage his medications and keep an eye on him, to make sure he stays in or around their house in Springtown, about 25 miles west of Fort Worth.

As the months turned into years, the relentless care routine became almost unbearable, Tilley said. “I don’t want to sound selfish, but we have no time for ourselves—none.”

Last year, Tilley learned about the Texas Lifespan Respite Care Program, which is administered through the state’s 28 Aging and Disability Resource Centers. It provided $500 in vouchers the couple used to hire home health aides to occasionally watch Haas.

“It’s given us a little of our life back,” said Tilley, who has been able to go out to dinner or a movie with her husband for the first time in years.

AARP Texas knows that hundreds of thousands of other family caregivers also need relief, especially in light of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s why it’s imploring lawmakers to boost annual spending on the respite care program from the current $500,000 a year to $10 million annually—a twentyfold increase.

In 2017, an estimated 3.4 million Texans cared for loved ones, providing $35 billion worth of free services, an AARP Public Policy Institute study shows.

“A little bit of help per family can go a long way,” said Amanda Fredriksen, AARP Texas advocacy director.

Population rapidly aging

Expanding respite care services also makes good economic sense for taxpayers, Fredriksen noted.

Nursing homes and other alternatives to family caregiving are more costly and draw on public funds such as Medicaid, she said.

The respite care program’s budget has not been increased since the initiative began in 2009. Meanwhile, the number of Texans ages 65 to 84 is expected to double, to 6.8 million, by 2050, and the 85-and-older population is projected to nearly quadruple, to 1.5 million.

AARP Texas is already at work laying the case that the legislature should significantly increase the program’s funding when it returns for the 2021 session.

“As the population ages, more and more family members are providing invaluable care for loved ones,” Fredriksen said. “I’m confident that Texas legislators will recognize caregivers’ tremendous contributions and work with AARP to bolster the Lifespan Respite Care Program.”

More money would be welcome at the North Central Texas Aging and Disability Resource Center, which serves populous Collin and Denton counties and 12 others in the area surrounding Dallas and Fort Worth.

The center receives about $33,000 per year from the program, an amount described as “a drop in the bucket” by Doni Green, its director.

It offers caregivers a voucher of between $300 and $500 for respite services. Caregivers who earn too much to be eligible for Medicaid but who otherwise cannot afford respite care can get help.

“We try to serve as many people as possible, but these are difficult decisions,” Green said.

Thomas Korosec is a writer living in Dallas.

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