Providing for our Caregivers

A few years ago I got an email from a woman named Marie from East Haven. After her mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, she had to give up her career to take care of her. She exhausted her savings and was forced to begin living off of the money she had saved for retirement. “What will happen to me after my mom passes on?” she wrote. “I will be too old to return to my prior career. I will have expended retirement funds that I cannot afford to do at this early stage.”

Marie isn’t alone — more than half of Connecticut residents age 40 and older have provided unpaid care for a loved one. Too many families know what it’s like to have to choose between providing care for a family member and keeping their job.

That’s why I introduced the Social Security Caregiver Credit Act, a bill to create a Social Security caregiver credit and provide modest retirement compensation to people who have had to leave the workforce or reduce their hours to care for a loved one.

Like Marie, people who put their lives on hold to care for someone they love are often forced to cut back on hours or walk away from their jobs altogether. Right now, because working less means not paying into Social Security, the selfless act of caring for a loved can come with costly consequences. Studies indicate that on average, total wage, private pension, and Social Security losses due to caregiving total more than $300,000, and can significantly threaten an individual’s retirement security.

Penalizing these caregivers by docking their Social Security benefits puts them in a financial hole many never recover from. That’s just wrong. I introduced this bill because Washington needs to do more to support people in Connecticut who sacrifice so much to care for their families. Helping make sure that they can save for retirement while caring for a family member would be a good first step.