Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Writes USA Today Op-ed in Support of Family Caregivers, Identifies Structured Family Caregiving as an Innovative Solution

November 25th, 2021 – Jeb Bush, who served for 8 years as the governor of Florida and is currently chairman and managing partner of Finback Investment Partners, published a piece in USA Today titled, “Let’s lift up family caregivers. The work they do is more important than ever.” The article raises awareness for the value of of family caregivers and the innovative programs supporting their efforts.

Family caregivers work around the clock on behalf of loved ones and save millions of dollars for health care systems, even as their work goes unrecognized and unsupported. Bush calls attention to  solutions that have been proven to make long-term care successful by proving caregivers with the recourses they need to care for loved ones at home.     

“We know now that care at home is really only made possible when family members are an option to help provide care and when we are bolstered by innovative technologies that enable us to connect with our healthcare providers,” Bush writes. “The body of evidence on the positive outcomes associated with technology-enabled health care at home has grown exponentially over the past few years.”

Bush highlights Structured Family Caregiving as one of the programs that provides critical coaching and support for family caregivers.  

“Structured Family Caregiving is [a] successful model that is available in an increasing number of states, including Indiana, Georgia and Massachusetts,” he writes.

“Available to individuals enrolled in Medicaid, this innovative model allows individuals to choose family caregivers and for those caregivers to receive coaching and ongoing support so they can confidently deliver care at home. Providing a professional coach to help increase a family caregiver’s understanding of complex medical and behavioral health conditions and available resources, and someone to help carry some of the caregiving stress and strain, has proved to reduce long-term care and health care costs.”

Bush’s USA Today piece is published on Thanksgiving day and makes note of the fact that November is National Family Caregivers Month—a time to recognize the invaluable contributions of family caregivers to the lives loved ones who depend on them as well as the healthcare system as a whole.

Read the full USA Today article 

Learn more about Structured Family Caregiving