American Public Health Association

Background: About 4.6 million older adults (aged 60 years and older) in the United States are foreign born, and Asian Americans are projected to become the largest immigrant group in the United States by 2055.

The article explores how public health systems in the U.S. can support older adults and informal caregivers. Topics discussed include how informal caregivers, an unpaid labor pool, are the cornerstone of long-term care in the U.S., forming a national caregiving strategy and ways these caregivers could be paid through medicaid, paid sick leave and providing tax credits.

Objectives: To estimate the economic value from a societal perspective of informal caregiving of persons with dementia in 38 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.; Methods: Using a cost replacement method and data from the 2015 and 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System caregiver module, the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics May 2016 Occupation Profiles, and the US Department of Labor, we estimated the number and economic direct cost of caregiving hours.; Results: An estimated 3.2 million dementia caregivers provided m