Millions of elderly people today face tough choices about where and how to live to maximize their quality of life. Many aging people want to stay in their homes but need help with daily tasks such as light housework, cooking, and driving. If loved ones can’t care for their parents and grandparents, elderly people must hire assistance, move into managed facilities, or fend for themselves.
This is where a popular foreign guest worker program — one that, unfortunately, the Biden administration is trying to kill through new proposed regulations — could come in handy. Instead of putting the au pair program on life support, the Biden administration should expand it from just covering childcare workers to include people who can offer senior care.
The need for elderly care is critical today. The number of people 65 and older is projected to more than double by 2040 to 80 million, up from 55 million in 2020. The 85-plus crowd will quadruple in the same period.
People are living longer, and many are living alone. This is particularly true for women, who enjoy longer life expectancies than men. But many, about 1 in 3 elderly people, still need some help to maintain their independence. Nearly 9 out of 10 people indicate that they want to grow old in their homes or with loved ones, according to polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. They want federal policymakers to help make this possible.
There are good reasons for this. Nursing home residents disproportionately suffered mo rb id outcomes during the pandemic, and it is well documented that long-term care facilities host the highest rates of elder abuse. Meanwhile, those who age in their own homes enjoy better mental, physical, and emotional benefits affecting, for example, cognition, depression, and incontinence, according to studies .
Also, the means to pay for these types of long-term care options weigh on seniors’ minds, particularly those with middle incomes. The average annual cost of receiving both full-time support at home and in a live-in senior care facility is about $60,000 per year. For high-income seniors who can afford either option or low-income seniors whose Medicaid can pay for a long-term facility, this cost is of little concern. However, for seniors without deep pockets or Medicare support, a $60,000 price tag is steep.
An au pair program for seniors would be a cheaper alternative and possibly a more preferable one for middle-income senior citizens. Au pairs are one of several exchange programs hosted by the State Department that provides affordable, in-home child care for about 20,000 middle-class families every year. Women aged 18–26 from other countries are matched with host families to provide caregiving for the children for up to two years. In return, au pairs are provided rent-free housing, food, and a weekly stipend, and they get to learn English while immersed in American culture.
The Biden administration has taken aim at this program with new proposed restrictions that would jack up costs for host families by about $10,700 per year and slash the number of hours au pairs are allowed to work each week, making the program unworkable for many who participate.
Instead of gutting this program, the Biden administration should broaden it to include senior care. Using the existing regulatory and bureaucratic infrastructure would provide elderly people with access to lower-cost senior care at zero cost to taxpayers.
This is an idea fleshed out by Independent Women’s Forum scholars Kristin Shapiro and Kelsey Bolar. Many of the parameters of the current au pair program could remain in place, such as background investigations of au pair candidates and host families, support from sponsoring organizations, training and onboarding, and ensuring compliance with all rules and regulations of the program.
Modifications could be made to the eligibility of au pairs and host families, requirements of how au pairs spend their time, or other program aspects to provide the flexibility that’s needed to meet the unique needs of elderly people.
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Best of all, even if new Biden restrictions go into play, for $30,000 a year, seniors would pay half as much for care with an au pair compared to in-home care or a live-in facility.
Amid high inflation, rapidly aging people are seeking to stretch their budget while remaining at home and meeting their needs for care and companionship. Baby boomers are experimenting with thrifty solutions: renting rooms in their spacious empty nests to other boomers a la The Golden Girls and building accessory dwelling units on their properties to rent out to the Fonzies of the world. Let’s add au pairs for seniors to the list of ways that they can age in place.
Patrice Onwuka is the director of the Center for Economic Opportunity at Independent Women’s Forum and co-host of WMAL’s O’Connor & Company.
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