One day it is rather calm phone call about a pair of misplaced glasses. The next day it is a frantic conversation over the phone accusing the cleaning lady of stealing some cash. On another occasion you mother calls and cannot seem to remember that her noon meals are delivered to her, that she does not need to go to the grocery store for more pasta and a roast beef. The calls, although you have time to handle and solve most of the problems, are becoming more and more frequent. In fact, as your mother nears her 90th birthday you sometimes feel like she is calling you 90 times a day. You are thankful that the cell phone you have provided her is still simple enough so that your mom can call when she really needs something, but these forgetful frenzies are becoming more and more common.
Many transitions and decisions in life are difficult, but the process of finding care options for someone who is beginning to show early signs of memory loss can be especially painful. In some cases, parents, grandparents, or even a spouse, can seem very physically fit but still show increasing instances of confusion, frustration, and forgetfulness. For many of these people, home care workers are an option, over having to move into a nursing home or memory care facility, but finding someone to work in the home can be a challenge. In addition to finding the right person to come into a home and care for a loved one, is the responsibility of making sure that the working conditions are safe and that the home owner has a home care liability insurance policy in place. Without considering the need for a home care liability insurance plan, in fact, a family can find itself in a complicated situation should the caregiver be injured while at work.
Do You Have a Loved One Who Could Benefit from Home Healthcare?
Did you know that home care is one of the top 10 fastest growing occupations in this country? This statistic provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is an indicator of a major shift in the platform for providing the needed care and assistance for the aging segment of our society. Perhaps not so surprising since this is a growing field, research also indicates that the injury rate for home health care workers is nearly 50% greater than that of hospital workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Given that private homes can have more obstacles and that some home health care workers do not have the same training as hospital staff, it is somewhat predictable that these injuries are more common.
In addition to finding a care worker who is sufficiently trained in lifting and patient transfers, many families decide that carrying home care liability insurance is in everyone’s best interest. If you find yourself looking for a home care liability insurance plan, the options are increasing as this market continues to expand. As such, it makes sense to look at and compare several home health care workers compensation insurance plans before making a final decision. Just as not all home owners or car liability insurance plans are not the same, the home healthcare insurance options are not the same either. Fortunately, the fact that this area of coverage is becoming more common, home care workers compensation insurance plans are becoming both more affordable and more competitive.
Making the transition from living alone to having a healthcare provider come into the house can be difficult, but with attention to details like having a home care liability insurance plan in place, the change can be more manageable. Consider some of these facts about the growing need for home healthcare workers in America:
- The number of people in the U.S. over the age of 65 will nearly double by the year 2050. This translates into a shift from 47.8 million today to to 88 million by 2050.
- 913,500 home health aides were working in the U.S. in the year 2014, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- 33% of the population older than 65 falls every single year.
