Taking Care Of Elderly Parents

Almost 49 million people over the age of 5 suffer some form of disability, and 24.1 million of these suffer from a severe disability. 9.2 million of people over the age of 5 require assistance with at least one routine activity a day. Anything from bathing to cooking. 2.5 million are either mentally retarded or have a developmental disability. 37.7 million have some sort of activity limitation. Of these people 12 million can't perform an important activity like work, school or play depending on their age. As people grow up the occurrence of physical disabilities increase, where as the occurrence of mental retardation/developmental disabilities is more common in people under the age of 18.

People with disabilities normally wish to live at home instead of living in an institutional setting; and typically families and professionals agree. The struggle of dealing with chronic and disabling conditions can be eased with home and community based (HCB) services like personal care, homemaking and chores, transportation, and day center care. Currently in benefit and service systems, HCB care is not considered the same as "skilled" or "home health" care. The second is normally in the umbrella of medical insurance--normally for recovering from an minor condition, but also for on going care that requires a physicians attention or a nurse or therapist. The lacking in the United States HCB service and benefit systems has been the cause of service users and policymakers to consider huge changes in the systems, such as giving cash to users to purchase services in the market. Before looking at these cash alternatives, the problems in the system should be considered.