How the Caregiving Crisis is Affecting Insurers
Author: Homethrive
The landscape for group life insurance carriers has shifted. For decades, the industry leaned on the same core offerings. Meanwhile, the people those policies are meant to serve have been quietly drowning under a burden that traditional insurance was never built to address.
Your members are caregivers. And they need you to act like you know it.
A Hidden Crisis, In Plain Sight
Across the United States, roughly 73% of adults shoulder some form of caregiving duty. Whether they care for children, aging parents, spouses, or loved ones managing disabilities or chronic illness, the scope is enormous, and the toll is deeply personal.
Consider what these members are dealing with: two-thirds of family caregivers say they struggle to juggle their jobs alongside care duties, more than a quarter have cut their hours or moved from full-time to part-time roles, and one in six has stepped away from the workforce entirely. They’re also burning through savings and retirement funds to pay for care that their existing coverage doesn’t touch.
On average, caregivers dedicate 27 hours each week to providing care. Nearly a quarter put in 40 or more hours weekly—the equivalent of another full-time position. They spend roughly $7,200 a year from their own pockets on supplies, transportation, and home modifications. Half say caregiving has damaged them financially, and one in five can’t financially cover basic necessities like food. Many have taken on debt just to keep up.
Without caregiving services in place, costly emergency room visits and crisis hospitalizations increase for those supporting aging parents. Caregivers are also more likely to develop stress-related health conditions of their own without the proper emotional and psychological help in place.
Collectively, unpaid caregivers contribute more than $870 billion worth of services annually, and yet traditional insurance products offer them almost nothing ease this burden.
What Caregiving Means for Your Bottom Line
Financial pressure on members doesn’t stay contained. Stressed, stretched-thin members are more likely to let premiums lapse. They disengage from their benefits. They start looking elsewhere. The conventional insurance model simply doesn’t show up for them during the moments that matter most.
Retention is where profitability lives. You’ve invested in acquiring each member and building each relationship. When they walk away, that investment walks with them, and replacement costs pile up. The math is unforgiving: members who feel unsupported leave, and winning them back costs far more than keeping them would have.
For insurers that add caregiving services as a core offering, members are less likely to switch providers. That kind of retention lift delivers outsized returns on what is ultimately a modest investment. Unlike expanding medical coverage or raising death benefit amounts, caregiving support runs on a service-based structure with predictable, scalable expenses. Budgeting is straightforward, and scaling alongside membership growth is simple.
On the acquisition side, HR decision-makers increasingly weigh caregiving support when evaluating group insurance packages. Employers are broadening flexible leave policies, investing in backup care services, and partnering with caregiving platforms. A benefits package that includes robust caregiver support stands out in competitive bids.
By partnering with Homethrive, insurance members reclaim valuable time and energy to focus on their work, families, and financial well-being. Show your members they don’t have to choose between their careers and their caregiving responsibilities.
Interested in learning more about Homethrive? Request a demo.