17 | Caring for the Elder Boom with Marisa Morán Jahn

There are now more Americans over the age of 80 than under the age of two. This burgeoning “elder boom” has stretched the nation’s caregivers to their limits, while the spiraling costs of care mean 80% of Americans can no longer afford it. That’s why President Biden has earmarked $400 billion for caregiving as part of his infrastructure plan, arguing care is essential to productivity. But given that 40% of U.S. deaths in the first wave of the pandemic (and 80% of Canadian deaths) were situated in senior care facilities, something in the current model has to give. MIT artist and filmmaker Marisa Morán Jahn is developing an alternative named “Carehaus” in which caregivers and their charges live side-by-side. She joins us to discuss how new models of care can solve the precarity of all involved.