National Alliance for Caregiving

Did you know? Family caregivers contribute more than $1 trillion in care labor annually to our healthcare system so getting sick isn’t an option.

When a caregiver gets sick—especially with a serious infection like pneumonia or meningitis—it doesn't just impact their health. It disrupts their entire family's care plan.

Many caregivers ages 50+ remain vulnerable to preventable diseases like pneumococcal disease. Pneumococcal vaccination is a simple, effective way to protect both yourself and those who depend on you. Most insurance plans cover it at no cost, and vaccines are available year-round.

As a caregiver, you show up for others every day. Make sure you're also showing up for yourself. Talk to your healthcare provider about pneumococcal vaccination today.

Your health matters. Your family depends on it. 💙

Learn more: CVEEP.org/pneuprotectsyou

A new six-month moratorium on Medicare home health and hospice provider enrollment raises a critical question: what happens to families who depend on these services when access shrinks?

The National Alliance for Caregiving recently urged CMS to closely monitor the impact of its six-month enrollment moratorium on new Medicare home health and hospice providers.

For millions of family caregivers, home health and hospice services are essential. When access disappears, caregivers step in, often without training or support, while balancing work, family, and their own health. And these access gaps are deepening in rural areas and underserved communities where provider supply is already thin.

We support efforts to strengthen program integrity, but families should not have to choose between oversight and access to care. We are calling for transparency on emerging shortages, pathways for trusted providers to serve underserved communities, and swift action to protect access in rural and home care desert areas.

Family caregivers shouldn't have to choose between program integrity and the care their loved ones need. We welcome the opportunity to work with CMS to get this right.

Read our letter: 🔗https://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/NAC_CMS_Home-Health-Hospice-Moratorium-Letter_May-2026.pdf

JOIN US TOMORROW: Building on the National Alliance for Caregiving's March webinar, where we explored why family caregivers are essential partners in complex care, this session will focus on how health systems are integrating them into care delivery.

Learn how hospitals and health systems are testing, implementing, and expanding caregiver support programs across different caregiving contexts and patient populations. The session will also highlight resources on Medicare’s Caregiver Training Services reimbursement codes which can be leveraged to better assess and support family caregivers.

Join us for this important discussion outlining what it takes to support family caregivers across different health care settings.

📅: May 27, 1-2 PM ET
🔗: https://bit.ly/4e3GqzH

March’s webinar, watch here 🔗: https://youtu.be/UJLp_1vA7w4?si=FJVK09e4EneTN0KF

The faces behind the numbers.

NBC News shares Melissa's story. Melissa Gonce, a mother caring for her 28-year-old son Jason, who has a rare chromosome disorder requiring constant, intensive care. Under Maryland's Medicaid self-directed program, Melissa was able to leave her corporate job and become Jason's primary caregiver—earning about $67,000 a year while giving him the consistent, loving care he desperately needed.

Maryland's Medicaid cuts threaten everything. Beginning July 1, Melissa's wage will drop by more than 25%, costing her family roughly $18,000 annually. She faces an impossible choice: find a way to absorb the cuts and keep Jason at home, or send him back into a system that failed him.

"This is not getting paid to take care of your child," said Jason Resendez, President and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. "This is getting paid to provide services that your child or your grandmother needs because of a serious illness or disability. And because there are few other options to provide that care, those other options are often much more costly."

When family caregiving programs are cut, the burden doesn't disappear—it shifts. It falls back on families stretched to their limits, and on a home care system already in crisis.

Thank you, NBC News, for centering stories like Melissa's and bringing this critical issue to light.

Read the full story to understand what's happening to families across the country: 🔗 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-medicaid-cuts-threaten-caregivers-disabled-family-members-rcna344930

Family caregivers are the backbone of care, but caregiving is demanding. Your own health directly impacts your ability to be there for the people who depend on you.

For family caregivers and care recipients ages 50+, pneumococcal disease poses a serious risk. It can lead to pneumonia, bloodstream infections, and meningitis—conditions that may result in hospitalization and lengthy recovery.

The good news? Pneumococcal vaccination is one of the most effective ways to protect both yourself and your loved ones. It helps reduce the risk of severe illness so you can stay healthy, present, and able to provide the care your family needs.

What you need to know:

✓ Talk to your healthcare provider about which vaccine is right for you
✓ Most insurance plans cover pneumococcal vaccines at no cost
✓ Vaccines are available year-round at doctors' offices, pharmacies, and community health centers

Your health matters. Your family depends on it.

Learn more: CVEEP.org/pneuprotectsyou

When family caregivers thrive, families thrive. But the latest brief from the National Alliance for Caregiving and NAMI shows we have work to do. The mental health impacts of caregiving are too significant to ignore.

Drawing on data from Caregiving in the US 2025, the brief reveals that female caregivers face heightened isolation, with 26% reporting feeling alone compared to 20% of male caregivers. The complexity of the role deepens when care recipients have mental health conditions, as 28% do, adding another layer of emotional demand. Meanwhile, the workplace consequences are severe, with nearly one in ten working caregivers having to give up employment entirely to manage their responsibilities.

These findings point to a clear need for targeted interventions, including workplace flexibility, culturally tailored mental health programs, and support systems that recognize the full scope of what caregivers carry. The brief offers a roadmap for meaningful action.

Read more:https://www.caregiving.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Mental-Health-Impacts-of-Family-Caregiving_May-2026.pdf

This , healthy aging starts with the services that keep older adults safe, fed, and connected.

The Older Americans Act ( ) funds the programs that make wellness possible every day:

🍽️ Nutrition: home-delivered meals for disease management
🚗 Access to care: rides to check-ups and pharmacies
🤝 Caregiver support: training and respite to reduce stress

The National Alliance for Caregiving is collecting real stories from family caregivers who have used these programs. Your testimony is the evidence needed to protect this funding for years to come.

If you have used these services to help a loved one , please share your story:

👉 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FNM9DKG

Know another caregiver with a story? Tag them below 👇

How have the experiences of cancer caregivers—including care intensity, emotional toll, financial strain, and interactions with the health care providers evolved since 2015? More importantly, whose experiences remain underrepresented, and how can the next national study capture that answer with rigor and equity?

The National Alliance for Caregiving is seeking a Fellow to lead the development of the Report Planning and Analysis Framework to update our 2016 report Cancer Caregiving in the US: An Intense, Episodic, and Challenging Care Experience — one of NAC's most widely cited publications.

This role will shape the secondary analysis of the Caregiving in the U.S. 2025 dataset, with a clear mandate to embed health equity, methodological rigor, and relevance to cancer care at every stage. The Fellow will:

🔹 Co-develop an analytical framework across core domains (e.g., care intensity, healthcare system integration, economic impact) to identify trends, gaps, and research priorities in cancer caregiving.
🔹 Center caregivers from diverse communities in shaping analytic priorities, processes, and report updates.
🔹 Engage with NAC’s cancer caregiving partners to translate findings into actionable insights that advance research, policy, and practice.

Fellowship Snapshot:

📅 July 2026 – June 2027 | ~4 hrs/week
💰 $15,000 stipend
🎯 Reports to NAC Program & Research Leadership

You bring: A completed PhD (preferred) in health services research, epidemiology, or a related field + caregiving expertise + experience facilitating stakeholders or community-engaged processes.

Apply by June 20, 2026. Full details & Candidate FAQ 👉🏼 https://www.caregiving.org/careers/

Behind the more than 63 million Americans providing family care is a financial reality too few are talking about.

Nearly half experience serious financial consequences — lost wages, reduced hours, depleted savings — while continuing to show up every day for the people they love.

National Alliance for Caregiving's CEO and President, Jason Resendez, joined the Care Economy podcast to bring Caregiving in the US 2025 data into that conversation. Together with host Maureen Feldman and Johnnie Jones of Elder Options, Jason explores how caregiving affects financial stability, employment, and long-term economic mobility — and what it will take to build a system that actually supports families before they reach a breaking point.

The episode covers the growing intensity and duration of caregiving, the policy solutions that could help families avoid financial crisis, and how state programs, employer benefits, and community partnerships are shaping the future of caregiver support.

If you are a caregiver, advocate, employer, or policymaker, this is for you: 🔗 https://gero.usc.edu/centers/cg-security/podcast/policy-and-the-family-care-economy/

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging held a hearing on sandwich generation caregiving.

National Alliance for Caregiving's CEO and President, Jason Resendez, testified about the scale of the crisis: 16 million Americans raising children while caring for aging parents. About half of family caregivers experience at least one negative financial impact due to their care responsibilities. 40% of caregivers report providing high-intensity care.

But testimony isn't just about numbers. Meghan Mahe from Daughterhood testified about what this looks like in practice. Caring for her mother through cancer. Raising a newborn and toddler. Now advocating for her father across state lines while raising two more kids.

This is the reality Congress needs to understand. And it's the reality that demands policy change—on financial security, access to services, and the support systems caregivers desperately need.

We're grateful to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging for elevating this critical issue and giving caregivers a platform to be heard.

Watch the full hearing: 🔗 https://www.aging.senate.gov/hearings/caught-in-the-middle-supporting-families-in-the-sandwich-gene…

Read Jason's testimony: 🔗 https://www.caregiving.org/nac-president-and-ceo-testifies-before-the-senate-aging-committee-on-the-realities-facing-americas-family-caregivers/