Elder care is an increasingly important sector in the comprehensive health care matrix in the United States. It is a realm of particular import to women: women live longer, develop degenerative conditions at higher rates than men, and are more likely to receive and provide care. Women earn less income, possess less net wealth, and are far more likely to live in poverty. Public policies regarding elder care add to the increasing strain on women by systematically rejecting home-based caregiving labor as “legitimate” economic activity, rendering it unworthy of subsidized support. As a result, a secondary policy bias develops, favoring institutional (market) elder care over home-based options, which creates demonstrably poor health and life-quality results and adds substantial monetary costs to both affected individuals and taxpayers. This Article examines the state of elder care—especially in the long-term context—and its impact on the lives of women as both care recipients and caregivers. Employing various strains of feminist thought, this Article establishes elder care as an integral component of feminist concern and examines current policy approaches that incorporate tax-based and non-tax-based reforms to stimulate improvements to the elder care industry, raise life quality outcomes, expand elder care choices, and encourage higher participation in caregiving labors in an area of vital need.

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