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As America’s baby boomers continue to age, the nation’s senior home care industry is evolving into a dynamic franchise sector providing peerless, compassionate care to both to elderly and those requiring constant medical assistance. That’s the finding of a new senior care franchises industry report by Franchise Direc America’s leading franchise portal.

As the Franchise Direct report explains, the evolution of senior home care, especially in recent years, is built on a simple premise: people would prefer to spend their golden years in the comfort of their own house as opposed to a staid nursing home. Senior care businesses in America have been in existence since the early nineteenth century, and the industry has grown steadily throughout the last few decades. Like so many other aspects of American business life, senior care franchises were easily franchised in the last 30 years, as brands offering a clear vision for better home care.

The home care industry, as it currently stands, is a fragmented industry that’s experienced 5% growth over recent years. It creates over $70 billion in revenue each year. The likes of Visiting Angels, Senior Helpers, Comfort Keepers, Home Helpers, BrightStar, CareMinders, Home Instead, and Interim Healthcare all provide individual spins on the concept of home care and have helped turned home care into a national movement.

Of course, the recent success of home care is underwritten by the altering age demographic of America. To put it simply, there are more older Americans than ever before and that number is only going to increase in coming years. Nearly 10,000 people turn 65 every day, and this trend is expected to last for nearly 20 years. In conjunction with this trend is a predicted 69% increase in home care assistants from 2010-2020.
The success of this industry basically comes down to one word: dignity. The report quotes Frances Zaglan, CareMinders Home Care client. “I feel very comfortable, and the most important thing is that at my age of 85 I am allowed to live in my own home with my husband,” she says. Aging is a difficult process, but these franchises make it easier.

Here’s some good news for franchisors this Thanksgiving weekend.

President Obama’s healthcare initiative earlier this year had alarmed many franchisors who felt they could no longer afford to pay their employees. That was certainly the word coming from McDonald’s, who had said they were going to stop paying health care wages for their 30,000 hourly workers.

But as the Wall Street Journal reported, the government rolled back those plans earlier this week, which is a sign that the president is taking on board the advice of America’s leading franchises, who had objected to paying the high level of cost proposed under the plan.

Providers of “mini-med” policies, like McDonalds, which caps benefits at a low level, had objected that they would have trouble meeting those levels, in part because they have high administrative costs.

McDonald’s expressed its satisfaction with the move and other retailers sounded pleased with the move.

Health care is a huge issue for franchisors, as last year’s debate in Washington proved.

Franchisors looking for answers with handling this issue will most likely take queues from the country’s more established franchisors. McDonald’s has been in the news of late over an article in the Wall Street Journal saying that the Golden Arches were about to drop health-care provisions for ‘nearly 30,000 hourly restaurant workers’.

McDonald’s have moved to correct the public record recently. Spokesperson Danya Proud told the Chicago Tribune that McDonald’s is “in discussions with the Department of Health and Human Services to obtain a waiver on premium payments”.

She also told the paper: “We employ a lot of people and our people are our top priority, and [that's] something we’re not going to turn our back on. However if we are not granted this waiver, we are going to have to look for alternate solutions, and at the end of the day that plan may not be feasible without a waiver to provide for our employees at that level.”

Steve Russell, senior vice president and chief people officer of McDonald’s USA has also said that “regardless of how the regulations evolve over the next several months, McDonald’s is committed to providing competitive pay and benefits, and the strongest employment opportunities possible.”

Health insurance is an increasingly contentious issue for franchisees, especially at this time of economic hardship. With premiums on group policies up by almost 30% in some places and insurer consolidation making fewer policies available, healthcare has become an incredibly stressful subject for small business owners and entrepreneurs, so much so that it was rated as their top headache last year.

The healthcare crunch leaves business owners having to contemplate laying-off staff in order to cover other workers. Some business owners are foregoing health care completely — with the number of businesses choosing not to provide health care up 8% last year, according to a recent survey.

President Obama promised health care reform in the run-up to the election, but one feels that the pressing needs of the economy, not to mention troubling foreign issues, might sidetrack his best intentions. So what is a franchisee to do?

This recent article addresses the problems and discusses some measures that small business owners are taking.

Some entrepreneurs are introducing a longer waiting period before employees can avail of health care.

Others, like Lynchburg, Virginia’s Thomas Johnson, are paying for their staff’s medical costs directly. It’s a risky strategy but it has yet to backfire.

“By picking up the tab for medical bills, according to some legal experts, Johnson has set a precedent that could obligate him to pay for all his workers’ medical expenses - even for a catastrophic illness such as cancer, which typically costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to treat.”

Then there’s Debbie Wicker, who found a loophole in health insurance law to ensure that everyone in her internet publishing business is covered.

And finally, other companies are penalizing workers who smoke or are overweight with higher premiums.

These are just a few examples of small business owners are doing to cope with this crisis. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet at the moment for solving this problem. With no immediate solutions on the cards for the health care coverage, franchisees will need to think innovatively about ways to provide for the health care needs staff.

How has your business been dealing with this conundrum?