New Podcast Explores and Answers the Critical Questions Facing Our Country’s Caregiving System [Press Release]
Season 1 of A Question of Care™, hosted by Robert Espinoza, takes a closer look at how the U.S. long-term care system benefits and harms older adults.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK — As the United States rapidly ages and widespread problems harm the livelihood of older adults, a new podcast premiering today seeks to answer the question: what has happened to our country’s caregiving system?
Hosted by Robert Espinoza, a national expert and frequent speaker on aging and the long-term care workforce, A Question of Care™ will explore several pressing topics related to our country’s caregiving system through interviews with leading experts, reporting, and editorial commentary.
The first season of A Question of Care focuses on the primary challenges facing older people, and future seasons will examine other aspects of caregiving. The podcast was produced in partnership with Modry Media.
“A Question of Care will shed light on why our country's caregiving system is fractured and unaffordable—and how everyday Americans can do their part to repair it,” said Robert Espinoza, host of A Question of Care.
The Context
Research shows that the number of people age 65 and older grew nearly five times faster than the total population between 1920 and 2020, from 4.9 million (4.7% of the U.S. population) in 1920 to 55.8 million (16.8%) in 2020.
Among this older adult population, 70 percent will need some form of long-term care in their lifetimes, and 20 percent will need it for longer than five years.
Unfortunately, long-term care is grossly expensive—ranging from $4000 to $8000 in median monthly costs—and most people cannot afford it without spending down their assets to qualify for Medicaid.
In addition to these issues, A Question of Care will explore the unique challenges facing various segments of the long-term care sector, including home care workers, older people of color, LGBTQ+ elders, immigrant care workers, family caregivers, and people with dementia.
It will also examine how our country deals with death and dying, why COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted nursing homes, and the legal context of older adults, which both helps and harms them.
The goals of this podcast, according to Espinoza, are to draw attention to these critical subjects while helping listeners understand a complex caregiving system.
“More and more people are reaching a point in their lives where they need long-term care support—for themselves or their families—yet they're finding that this system isn't strong enough to help them,” said Espinoza.
“A Question of Care will give listeners a better understanding of caregiving so they can make smart choices and help change how we care in America,” added Espinoza.
Episodes and Expert Guests
What Has Happened to Our Country’s Caregiving System? Guest: Howard Gleckman, Senior Fellow at The Urban Institute and Columnist, Forbes.com
Why Do We Tolerate Ageism? Guest: Ashton Applewhite, Author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism and co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse
Why Did the COVID-19 Crisis Ravage Nursing Homes? Guest: David C. Grabowski, Ph.D., Professor of Health Care Policy at the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School
Is Our Care System Racially Segregated? Guest: Ruqaiijah Yearby, Kara J. Trott Professor in Health Law at the Moritz College of Law, Ohio State University
What’s It like to Reach Older Age When You’re LGBTQ+? Guest: Michael Adams, Chief Executive Officer at SAGE (Advocacy and Services for LGBTQ+ Elders)
Why Can’t I Find a Home Care Worker? Guest: Dr. Madeline Sterling, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, Board-Certified General Internist and Health Services Researcher
How Does Dementia Affect the Entire Family? Guest: Jason Resendez, President and CEO at the National Alliance for Caregiving
Will Immigrants Rescue the Home Care Sector? Guest: Ai-jen Poo, President at the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Executive Director at Caring Across Generations
Is Our Culture Dealing Properly with Death and Dying? Guest: Joseph W. Shega, MD, Chief Medical Officer at VITAS Healthcare & Co-Managing Editor of Essential Practices in Hospice and Palliative Medicine
How Should the Law Support Older Adults? (Guest: TBD)
About Robert Espinoza
Robert Espinoza is a national expert in aging, caregiving, and long-term care workforce issues. For more than 20 years, he has spearheaded high-profile advocacy campaigns and written seminal reports on aging and long-term care, LGBTQ+ rights, and other issues.
Robert is currently the Executive Vice President of Policy at PHI, where he oversees its national advocacy and public education division on the direct care workforce, and a Nonresident Senior Fellow for the Brookings Institution. He also serves on the board of directors for the American Society on Aging, the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the FrameWorks Institute.
In 2020, he was selected for the first-ever CARE 100 list of the most innovative people working to re-imagine how we care in America today and as one of Next Avenue's 2020 Influencers in Aging. In 2021, he testified before Congress on the interventions needed to strengthen the direct care workforce.
Visit aquestionofcare.us to learn more about—and listen to—A Question of Care. Podcast episodes are also available on all major podcast platforms. For more information or to contact Robert Espinoza, click here.
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