According to a new report from AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving, the US population of unpaid caregivers has increased 45 percent in the last decade. Nearly one in four American adults—about 65 million people—provide ongoing care to an elderly, chronically ill, and/or disabled person. Roughly half those cases (including many involving limb loss) require “high-intensity” care such as tending to wounds, administering medicines, using assistive technology, and the like.
Titled Caregiving in the US 2025, the report argues that caregivers form “the invisible backbone of American communities, providing a critical foundation that sustains our nation’s health care system and economy.” Yet the evidence shows that caregivers are “strained, under-supported and often invisible in national conversations about health care, aging, and economic policy.”
You can download and read the full report from AARP’s website. Here are some key takeaways that are relevant to amputees and their caregivers.
Amputees Closely Match Care Recipients’ Typical Health Profile
Health challenges associated with limb loss overlap strongly with the most common health challenges of care recipients. Nearly half of care recipients are age 75 or older; similarly, the largest amputee age demographic, comprising nearly half of amputees (according to the Amputee Coalition’s 2024 prevalence study), is 65 and older. Advanced age is the number-one condition that requires caregiving, according to the report. Mobility issues, the third most-common condition for care recipients, affect nearly all lower-limb amputees; wound care is number 5, fall risk is number 6, and diabetes checks in at number 9. Taken together, these conditions account for more than a third of all caregiving situations in the country. Virtually every amputee who requires care has at least one of these conditions, and a sizeable proportion has more than one.
Management, Advocacy and Paperwork Consume Lots of Caregivers’ Time
Nearly three-fourths of caregivers are fully or partially responsible for managing the care recipient’s case. “Managing” includes dealing with insurers, paying (and disputing) bills, coordinating care among multiple clinicians, scheduling appointments, communicating with healthcare providers, applying for government benefits, and troubleshooting when things don’t go smoothly. Insurance alone can be a head-spinningly complex burden for amputees and their caregivers. So can herding the fragmented clinical team of prosthetists, rehab docs, PTs, OTs, mental health therapists, pain specialists, and the like.
Caregiving Imposes Huge Financial Burdens
About half of caregivers report at least one negative financial impact resulting from their caregiving. The most common impact, experienced by about a third of caregivers, is to stop saving. About one in four caregivers has to spend funds they’ve already accrued in short-term savings accounts, and about one in eight needs to dip into long-term savings such as retirement accounts. Nearly one-fourth have to take on new debt to make ends meet, 20 percent report falling behind on bills, and one in ten either postpones retirement or gives up on the idea altogether.
Caregiving Imposes Negative Health Impacts
Nearly 25 percent of caregivers say they’re so absorbed in caregiving that they have trouble caring for themselves. On average, caregivers report having poor physical health five days a month and poor mental health seven days a month. About two-thirds say that caregiving causes them high or moderate emotional distress, and nearly half say it causes high or moderate physical strain. Significantly, 20 percent of caregivers have a disability themselves.
Most Caregivers Receive Absolutely No Training
About two-thirds of caregivers provide assistance with bathing, dressing, feeding, toileting, and/or other activities of daily living (ADLs). An even higher proportion provide support with instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), which including cooking, shopping, housekeeping, and transportation. Yet just 11 percent of caregivers receive any formal training to perform these vital, and extremely common, tasks. Training for medical-related tasks (such as giving injections, taking vital signs, and dressing wounds) is more readily available, but it’s still uncommon: Just 22 percent of caregivers who perform these tasks get taught how to do them properly.
Caregivers Favor Specific Policy Changes
The two most popular policy changes among caregivers are tax credits to help offset the cost of care, and a government fund to pay caregivers for at least some of the hours they provide care. Those are followed in popularity by relief programs, where paid caregivers would tag in periodically to give the primary caregiver a break; training for how to assist with ADLs, IADLs, and other routine caregiving tasks; and help with navigating the confusing healthcare system and government benefits maze.
“As caregiving continues to shit in scope, intensity, and complexity, it is crucial to understand the vital role of caregivers in our health and social systems,” the report concludes. “Only by recognizing the full picture of caregiving, and the range of roles they perform, can we begin to ensure the support they need.”
