Valuing the Invaluable 2026

The 2026 update to AARP’s "Valuing the Invaluable" series highlights a critical shift in caregiving, where 59 million Americans now provide unpaid labor valued at a record-breaking $1.01 trillion annually.

This update reveals that more than half of these caregivers are now performing "high-intensity" care, which includes managing complex medical tasks and spending an average of 27 hours per week on support duties. By outstripping the total national expenditure on Medicaid, these findings serve as a stark reminder that the U.S. healthcare system increasingly relies on a fragile and overburdened foundation of family-provided care.

Read AARP's full article here.