AARP Thanks Biden for Supporting Caregivers but Urges More

En español | We led dozens of advocates for family caregivers in thanking President Joe Biden on Thursday for his executive order bolstering support for them.

AARP has long advocated on behalf of the nation’s more than 48 million family caregivers, who provide an estimated $600 billion in unpaid care each year to their loved ones.

Biden’s sweeping April 18 order calls for a range of actions, including improved access to home-based care for veterans, enhanced job quality for long-term care workers, and new or expanded efforts to support caregivers of veterans or people with dementia.

In a letter signed by AARP and 83 other organizations and companies, we thanked the president for recognizing the importance of family caregivers but urged him to continue to prioritize action to address their many challenges. This includes providing financial relief through a caregiver tax credit and physical and emotional relief through respite care, workplace flexibility and other measures.

AARP is part of a coalition that continues to press federal officials to follow through on last year’s National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, created under the AARP-backed RAISE Family Caregivers Act, which was enacted in 2018. The strategy identified nearly 500 actions federal and state agencies and other stakeholders can take to support family caregivers.

“Most of us are, have been, or will be a family caregiver or will need help to live independently,” the letter said. “This is a nonpartisan and ageless issue.”

Read our letter and learn more about our resources for caregivers and their families.