Alaska caregiving valued at $1.1 billion in 2009

And now for a walk on the wonky side. A new report from AARP shows the value of family caregiving in Alaska in 2009 to have been $1.1 billion. This was calculated based on an estimated 88,000 caregivers at any given time, 84 million hours of care total and a value of $13.10 per hour.

The report compares the ratio of the economic value of caregiving to Medicaid spending by state in 2009, for three different measures. For total Medicaid spending Alaska's ratio was 1.03 versus a national average of 1.25. For Medicaid long-term services and supports Alaska's ratio was 2.9 versus 3.8 nationally. For Medicaid home and community based services Alaska's ratio was 4.4 versus 8.2 nationally.