Care Planning by Wellthy

Wellthy’s new experience, Care Planning, has just launched for members and comes at a moment where the fundamentals of planning for a loved one’s care couldn’t be more important or urgent.

Below we’ll walk you through the basics of Care Planning: what it is, why it’s so timely, what types of things members can use Care Planning to solve for, and what to expect in the coming months.

What is Care Planning?

Care Planning is a digital experience designed by a team of Wellthy caregiving experts that reduces the time, stress, and financial strain of future caregiving responsibilities.

For nearly a decade, Wellthy care experts have been providing families with caregiving support – now covering almost two million lives. One of the biggest lessons we’ve learned from working with so many over the years is that the largest need today is planning ahead for an aging loved one. When families discuss and have a dialogue about caregiving ahead of time, they are considerably more prepared to address the time, stress, and financial strain that can come with caregiving situations. Individuals can now feel confident and prepared to provide for those who will look to them for care. Rather than waiting until a crisis emerges, Care Planning empowers families to stay organized, plan ahead, and feel ready to provide the quality of care their loved ones deserve.

Why is Care Planning so timely?

Every day, 65,000 people are stepping into caregiving roles for a loved one – and the vast majority (more than 75 percent) of these caregivers are untrained and unprepared to handle the complexity of a loved one’s care.

Culturally we have built entire ecosystems and categories around planning for retirement, vacations, weddings, sending our kids to college, and so much more. But we lack the basic motivations and toolsets to plan for caregiving, even though most of us will either require care or be a caregiver at some point in our lives.

Last month, Voya Financial and Easterseals partnered on research that showed that failing to plan for caregiving responsibilities was having major consequences for people, especially people over 45 years old.  

“There’s a lack of planning around caregiving. It’s a huge issue, whether it’s for ourselves, our children or aging parents," said Jessica Tuman, Vice President of Voya Cares and Voya Financial’s ESG Practice Centers of Excellence.

What types of caregiving situations can Care Planning be used to help with?

Because caregiving is a part of everyone's life at some point, Care Planning is designed to help with a vast array of questions, challenges, and situations. Here’s a sample of questions and situations that creating a Care Plan can help a family address:

• How do I help my aging parent(s) best prepare their finances ahead of caregiving needs?
• How do I best prepare for a sudden event or medical condition that requires a loved one to need long-term medical care?
• How should I plan for long-term housing for my relatives who need care?

What can you expect in the coming months with Care Planning?

While this week’s launch of Care Planning will be oriented toward aging care, in the coming months Care Plans will provide support for areas of care beyond aging, including for self, kids, and families. Soon we’ll also be adding Care Planning to the Wellthy mobile app, providing another avenue where members can access planning guides and experiences.