Care Crisis: the senior care gap

America is facing a care crisis. More than 10 million people depend on long term care supports and services and tens of millions more will need care in the coming years. The number of Americans over 65 will more than double – to 89 million – by 2050, while the population over 85 will more than triple. The demand for home care services is exploding, but the long term care system in America doesn’t work for anyone. Families can’t afford the care they need and workers in this field are so underpaid they can’t provide for their own families.

In every state across the country, there is a senior care gap: there are more seniors in need of daily care than there are available home care workers.

Everyone should have access to the services they need so they can live in their own homes with dignity and independence. And no one should be paid poverty wages and denied basic benefits like health care coverage or sick days to do this essential work.