Report: Caregiving Costs Weigh on Americans

  WESTPORT, Conn.- (BUSINESS WIRE) - 6/14/2011 - Americans who provide care for their aging parents lose an estimated three trillion dollars in wages, pension and Social Security benefits when they take time off to do so, according to “The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers: Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents.”
   Produced by the MetLife Mature Market Institute in conjunction with the National Alliance for Caregiving and the Center for Long Term Care Research and Policy at New York Medical College, the study reports that individually, average losses equal $324,044 for women and $283,716 for men. The percentage of adults providing care to a parent has tripled since 1994.
    The researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to determine the extent to which older adult children provide care to their parents. They also studied gender roles, the impact of caregiving on careers and the potential cost to the caregiver in lost wages and future retirement income.
    “Nearly 10 million adult children over the age of 50 care for their aging parents,” said Sandra Timmermann, Ed.D., director of the MetLife Mature Market Institute. “Assessing the long-term financial impact of caregiving for aging parents on caregivers themselves, especially those who must curtail their working careers to do so, is especially important, since it can jeopardize their future financial security.”
    In addition, the study found that:
    Adult children age 50+ who work and provide care to a parent are more likely than those who do not provide care, to report that their health is fair or poor.
    The percentage of adult children providing personal care and/or financial assistance to a parent has more than tripled over the past 15 years and currently represents a quarter of adult children, mainly Baby Boomers.
   Working and non-working adult children are almost equally likely to provide care to parents in need.
   Overall, caregiving sons and daughters provide comparable care in many respects, but daughters are more likely to provide basic care (i.e., help with dressing, feeding and bathing) and sons are more likely to provide financial assistance defined as providing $500 or more within the past two years. Twenty-eight percent of women provide basic care, compared with 17 percent of men.
    For women, the total individual amount of lost wages due to leaving the labor force early because of caregiving responsibilities equals $142,693. The estimated impact of caregiving on lost Social Security benefits is $131,351. A very conservative estimated impact on pensions is approximately $50,000. Thus, in total, the cost impact of caregiving on the individual female caregiver in terms of lost wages and Social Security benefits equals $324,044.
    For men, the total individual amount of lost wages due to leaving the labor force early because of caregiving responsibilities equals $89,107. The estimated impact of caregiving on lost Social Security benefits is $144,609. Adding in a conservative estimate of the impact on pensions at $50,000, the total impact equals $283,716 for men, or an average of $303,880 for male or female caregivers age 50+ who care for a parent.
    “These family caregivers, the celebrated members of the sandwich generation, are juggling their responsibilities to their own families and to their parents,” said Gail Hunt, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Caregiving. “There is also evidence that caregivers experience considerable health issues as a result of their focus on caring for others. The need for flexibility in the workplace and in policies that would benefit working caregivers is likely to increase in importance as more working caregivers approach their own retirement, while still caring for their loved ones.”
    “As the percentage of employees who are caregivers continues to grow, there will be greater demand on employers for help and support. There are many workplace resources and programs that can be made available that benefit all stakeholders since financial stress can negatively impact physical health and workplace productivity,” Timmermann said.
   The study contains implications for individuals, employers and policymakers. It points out that employers can provide retirement planning and stress management information and can assist employees with accommodations like flex-time and family leave. Individuals, it says, should consider their own health when caregiving and should prepare financially for their own retirement. Policymakers are made aware of the fact that more states are considering paid family leave, especially as it is accrued through workers’ compensation funds. On the federal level, a voluntary long-term care insurance program is part of the Affordable Care Act and will likely increase public awareness of the issue.
    The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers provides updated information first reported in two MetLife studies: Sons at Work: Balancing Employment and Eldercare (2003) and The MetLife Juggling Act Study: Balancing Caregiving with Work and the Costs Involved (1999).

Methodology

    The study uses data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) conducted biannually by the University of Michigan with funding from the National Institute on Aging. First fielded in 1992, the HRS, a nationally representative sample, surveys adults over the age of 50 and provides extensive information on this population, including data on income, work and health status, and whether respondents provide basic, personal care and/or financial assistance to their parents. After cases with missing data were eliminated from the 2008 panel, the sample was restricted to 1,112 men and women who had a parent living.

NIH Autism Study Points to Molecular Differences

   (NIH) - 6/9/2011 - Autism blurs the molecular differences that normally distinguish different brain regions, a new study suggests. Among more than 500 genes that are normally expressed at significantly different levels in the front versus the lower middle part of the brain’s outer mantle, or cortex, only eight showed such differences in brains of people with autism, say researchers funded in part by the National Institutes of Health.
   "Such blurring of normally differentiated brain tissue suggests strikingly less specialization across these brain areas in people with autism," explained Daniel Geschwind, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, a grantee of the NIH’s National Institute of Mental Health. "It likely reflects a defect in the pattern of early brain development."  .
   He and his colleagues published their study online May 26, 2011 in the journal Nature. The research was based on postmortem comparisons of brains of people with the disorder and healthy controls.
   In fetal development, different mixes of genes turn on in different parts of the brain to create distinct tissues that perform specialized functions. The new study suggests that the pattern regulating this gene expression goes awry in the cortex in autism, impairing key brain functions.
   "This study provides the first evidence of a common signature for the seemingly disparate molecular abnormalities seen in autism," said NIMH director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. "It also points to a pathway-based framework for understanding causes of other brain disorders stemming from similar molecular roots, such as schizophrenia and ADHD."
   In an earlier study, the researchers showed that genes that turn on and off together at the same time hold clues to the brain’s molecular instructions. These modules of co-expressed genes can reveal genetic co-conspirators in human illness, through what Geschwind and colleagues call "guilt by association." A gene is suspect if its expression waxes and wanes in sync with others in an illness-linked module.
   Using this strategy, the researchers first looked for gene expression abnormalities in brain areas implicated in autism – genes expressed at levels different than in brains of healthy people. They found 444 such differently expressed genes in the cortexes of postmortem brains of people with autism.
   Most of the same genes turned out to be abnormally expressed in the frontal cortex as in the temporal cortex (lower middle) of autistic brains. Of these, genes involved in synapses, the connections between neurons, tended to be under-expressed when compared with healthy brains. Genes involved in immune and inflammatory responses tended to be over-expressed. Significantly, the same pattern held in a separate sample of autistic and control brains examined as part of the study.
   Autistic and healthy control brains were similarly organized -- modules of co-expressed genes correlated with specific cell types and biological functions.
   Yet normal differences in gene expression levels between the frontal and temporal cortex were missing in the modules of autistic brains. This suggests that the normal molecular distinctions — the tissue differences — between these regions are nearly erased in autism, likely affecting how the brain works. Strikingly, among 174 genes expressed at different levels between the two regions in two healthy control brains, none were expressed at different levels in brains of people with autism. An analysis of gene networks revealed two key modules of co-expressed genes highly correlated with autism.
   One module was made up of genes in a brain pathway involved in neuron and synapse development, which were under-expressed in autism. Many of these genes were also implicated in autism in previous, genome-wide studies. So, several different lines of evidence now converge, pointing to genes in this M12 module (see picture below) as genetic causes of autism.
   A second module of co-expressed genes, involved in development of other types of brain cells, was over-expressed in autism. These were determined not to be genetic causes of the illness, but likely gene expression changes related to secondary inflammatory, immune, or possible environmental factors involved in autism.
   This newfound ability to see genes in the context of their positions in these modules, or pathways, provides hints about how they might work to produce illness, according to Geschwind and colleagues. For example, from its prominent position in the M12 module, the researchers traced a potential role in creating defective synapses to a gene previously implicated in autism.
   Follow-up studies should explore whether the observed abnormalities in the patterning of gene expression might also extend to other parts of the brain in autism, say the researchers. The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure. For more information, visit the NIMH website.
   Source: National Institutes of Health release of June 2, 2011.

Former Hospital Council Faces Multiple Charges

   PHILADELPHIA - 6/5/2011 - Roosevelt Hairston Jr. of Malvern, Penn., was charged in a three-count "information" or accusation, with mail fraud, money laundering, and filing a false tax return for his embezzlement of $1.7 million from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, United States Attorney Zane David Memeger announced recently.
   Hairston was employed in various senior positions at CHOP, including most recently as general counsel and executive vice president.
   The information alleges that, between 1999 and February 14, 2011, Hairston used dozens of false invoices he created for shell companies to steal from CHOP. Hairston was able to steal for so long because he occupied a position of trust at the hospital and because he engaged in extensive efforts to conceal and prolong the scheme. For example, when CHOP accounting personnel questioned some of the bogus invoices Hairston submitted, Hairston stole the identity of a long-time friend and created bogus e-mail addresses in the name of his friend. Hairston then sent e-mail messages to CHOP personnel to make it appear that the invoices were real.
   Hairston allegedly used the funds he stole from CHOP to live a lavish lifestyle, purchasing luxury items like real estate, a luxury yacht with a captain to maintain the yacht, high-end automobiles, and many other luxury items.
  The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Richard J. Zack.
  Source: U.S. Department of Justice release.

California Gasoline Demand Flat, Diesel Declines

   SACRAMENTO, Calif.- (BUSINESS WIRE) - 5/31/2011 - Jerome E. Horton, Chairman of the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), on May 27 released California gasoline and diesel consumption figures for February 2011. California gasoline consumption remained flat, while diesel fuel consumption in California declined. “As California gasoline consumption remained flat, higher gasoline prices have resulted in a greater percentage of household income going to gasoline,” said Horton. “Consumers will likely continue to look for ways to use less gasoline in response to the higher prices they are now facing compared to a year ago.”
    California’s gasoline consumption remained flat in February 2011 with 1.131 billion gallons of gasoline, compared to 1.131 billion gallons in February 2010. In February 2011, the average price of gasoline at the pump in California was up 59 cents to $3.58 a gallon, a 20 percent increase, compared to California’s average price of $2.99 per gallon of gasoline in February 2010. The U.S. average price of gasoline in February 2011 was up 56 cents to $3.26 per gallon, a 21 percent increase, compared the U.S. average price of $2.70 per gallon of gasoline in February 2010.
    In February 2011, California’s diesel consumption totaled 176.5 million gallons, which is 19.1 million gallons less than February 2010 when diesel consumption totaled 195.6 million gallons, a decrease of 9.8 percent. However, the February 2010 figures include an additional 11.3 million gallons of diesel fuel due to an audit assessment of prior monthly reporting periods. If the audit assessment of 11.3 million gallons in February 2010 are excluded from the calculations, diesel consumption still decreased by 4.2 percent in February 2011. California’s diesel fuel figures are net consumption that includes the State Board of Equalization’s audit assessments, refunds, amended and late tax returns and the California State Controller’s Office refunds.
    The average price of diesel in California rose 86 cents to $3.80 per gallon in February 2011, a 29 percent increase compared to February 2010’s average price of $2.94 per gallon of diesel fuel in California. The U.S. average price for diesel rose 28 percent in February 2011 to $3.58 per gallon, up 79 cents compared to last year in February when the U.S. average price for diesel was $2.79.
    The State Board of Equalization is able to monitor gallons through tax receipts paid by fuel distributors in California. Consumption figures for March 2011 are scheduled to be available at the end of June 2011. All monthly, quarterly, and annual figures can be viewed at: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/spftrpts.htm.
    Taxable Gasoline Gallons: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/reports/MVF_10_Year_Report.pdf
    Taxable Diesel Gallons: www.boe.ca.gov/sptaxprog/reports/Diesel_10_Year_Report.pdf
    Elected in 2010, Chairman Jerome E. Horton is the Fourth District Member of the California State Board of Equalization, representing more than 8.5 million residents in Los Angeles County. He is also the Board of Equalization legislative committee chairman. He is the first to serve on the California State Board of Equalization with over 21 years of experience with the Board of Equalization. Horton previously served as an Assembly Member of the California State Assembly from 2000-2006.
    The five-member California State Board of Equalization is a publicly elected tax board. The Board of Equalization collects more than $48 billion annually in taxes and fees supporting state and local government services. It hears business tax appeals, acts as the appellate body for franchise and personal income tax appeals, and serves a significant role in the assessment and administration of property taxes. For more information on other taxes and fees in California, visit www.taxes.ca.gov.