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Aging Parents

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  • A young woman cares for her elderly grandmother

    Research Brief

    The Cost of Elderly Caregiving

    Jan 20, 2015

    Family members and friends spend 30 billion hours each year providing care for their elderly loved ones. These caregivers are giving up valuable time, either from their jobs or from other potentially productive activities. What is the annual price tag of this informal care—and how might it be offset?

  • old hands on walking stick

    Project

    Dementia Blueprint

    Jun 23, 2014

    Annual costs of dementia exceed those of cancer and heart disease and will only continue to rise as the nation's population ages. Key policy options can help strengthen and improve long-term services and supports for those with dementia and their caregivers.

Explore Aging Parents

  • Woman using a digital tablet with an elderly man

    Commentary

    Bridging the Global Age Gap

    The Trans-Pacific Partnership offers hope for balancing the world's rapidly aging with its jobless youth. As long-term care for the elderly becomes a pressing need in many developed countries, services such as monitoring and reminding people to take their medications could be provided remotely from countries with an abundance of younger workers.

    Oct 8, 2015

  • Michael Reyes with his mother, Eleanor, who suffers from dementia

    Essay

    Struggling with Dementia

    The costs of dementia are staggering. A recent RAND analysis quantifies the scope of the problem in the United States and serves as a wake-up call to policymakers everywhere.

    Aug 10, 2015

  • Nurse handing medications to a senior man

    Commentary

    Medicare at 50: How Reforming End-of-Life Care Could Benefit It for Years to Come

    As Medicare turns 50, skyrocketing health care costs and the aging of baby boomers both threaten the program's long-term viability. One solution that could go a long way would be to change the way the program handles and pays for end-of-life care.

    Jul 30, 2015

  • Senior couple on a park bench looking at a tablet

    Commentary

    Aging in Asia: Can the 'Tigers' Continue to Roar?

    Changing demographics will force Japan and the “Asian Tigers”—Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan—to find ways to remain economically dynamic while increasingly looking after their elderly. How might public policy help accomplish this?

    Jun 16, 2015

  • Alpine skier jumping from hill

    Commentary

    He Lived Cautiously, and Then Died Suddenly

    After his father's unexpected death, RAND's Jeffrey Wasserman questions his instinct to always play it safe, and decides what risks in life are worth taking.

    May 15, 2015

  • Grandparents teaching their grandson how to play Xiangqi, Chinese chess

    News Release

    China's Aging Population Poses Challenges, but Changes to Health and Migration Policies Can Help

    While the rapid aging of China's population is thought to condemn the nation to a dismal future, past policies on education and new policies to improve health and foster internal migration could ease the challenges posed by an older citizenry.

    Jan 19, 2015

  • News Release

    News Release

    Cost of Informal Caregiving for U.S. Elderly Is $522 Billion Annually

    The price tag for informal caregiving of elderly people by friends and relatives in the U.S. comes to $522 billion a year. Replacing that care with unskilled paid care at minimum wage would cost $221 billion, while replacing it with skilled nursing care would cost $642 billion annually.

    Oct 27, 2014

  • A son, father, and grandfather fishing from a dock

    Commentary

    Demographics Add Urgency for Action on Dementia Long-Term Care

    Dementia takes a huge toll on those afflicted with it but also has major consequences for those who must care for them. More than 15 million Americans provide care for loved ones with dementia—tending to their daily, routine needs and ensuring their medical needs are met.

    Jul 28, 2014

  • losing brain function, tree with leaves falling

    Research Brief

    What Can Be Done About Dementia?

    Policy options to improve dementia long-term care include those that increase public awareness and promote earlier detection, improve access to and quality of services, increase support to family caregivers, and reduce the cost burden.

    Jun 23, 2014

  • Woman walking with and guiding her elderly grandmother

    Report

    Improving Dementia Long-Term Care: A Policy Blueprint

    As millions of Americans struggle to help loved ones with dementia, policymakers should consider more ways to improve long-term services and supports for the soaring number of people with the debilitating condition and their caregivers.

    Jun 23, 2014

  • News Release

    News Release

    Improving Dementia Long-Term Care: RAND Offers Policy Blueprint to Assist Millions

    As millions of Americans struggle to help loved ones with dementia, policymakers should consider more ways to improve long-term services and supports for the soaring numbers of people with the debilitating condition and their caregivers.

    Jun 23, 2014

  • Senior man and adult daughter enjoying time together over lunch

    Journal Article

    Cost of Informal Caregiving for U.S. Elderly Is $522 Billion Annually

    The price tag for informal caregiving of elderly people by friends and relatives in the U.S. comes to $522 billion a year. Replacing that care with unskilled paid care at minimum wage would cost $221 billion, while replacing it with skilled nursing care would cost $642 billion.

    Jan 1, 2014

  • Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks at the G8 Dementia Summit

    Commentary

    A Global Focus on Dementia

    The Group of 8 industrial nations is convening a special session to seek an international approach to dementia research at a time the disease is being recognized as a 21st century global health crisis of historic proportions.

    Dec 11, 2013

  • Couple reviewing finances with an advisor

    Commentary

    The Cost of Dementia: Who Will Pay?

    It is time for the government in partnership with industry to return to the drawing board to craft a plan that will provide protection for the more than 9 million people who will need care for dementia by 2040, writes Michael D. Hurd.

    May 1, 2013

  • Young woman and grandfather sitting hand in hand at table

    Commentary

    Dementia's Growing Cost to Caregivers

    At the rate that the U.S. population is aging, the total cost of dementia could reach half a trillion dollars a year by 2040. Those who care for impaired relatives and friends are acutely aware of the effects of dementia, and unfortunately they are all too familiar with its costs, writes Kathleen J. Mullen.

    Apr 29, 2013

  • an elderly couple, man possibly with dementia

    Journal Article

    Cost of Dementia Tops $159 Billion Annually in the United States

    The monetary cost of dementia in the United States ranges from $159 billion to $215 billion annually, making the disease more costly to the nation than either heart disease or cancer. The greatest cost is associated with providing institutional and home-based long-term care rather than medical services.

    Apr 1, 2013

  • News Release

    News Release

    Low Fertility in Europe — Is There Still Reason to Worry?

    The post-war trend of falling birth rates has been reversed across Europe. However, despite an increasing emphasis on family and fertility policies in Europe, this recent development involves social, cultural, and economic factors more than individual policy interventions.

    Jun 17, 2011

  • Research Brief

    Research Brief

    Europe's demography: Are babies back? The recent recovery in EU period fertility due to older childbearing

    An update to the RAND Europe 2004 study into the causes and consequences of low fertility in Europe analysing the latest data, reviewing recent literature, and examining the situation in Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the UK in depth.

    Jun 16, 2011