This is definitely a couple of steps in the wrong direction. There’s a debate going on about whether families should pay children who look after them in their old age. There are lots of other ways to thank a person to helping them, but to equate it to money is plain ridiculous and completely devalues the relationship. After all, if you pay someone to take care of you, then they are no different from just any other emplyed help, right? There’s better ways to thank or compensate a person, than to equate it to money and to even go down that path will lead to much more trouble.  

Some states — Arkansas, California, Oregon and Washington among them — have started paying families for care that they perceive can be done more carefully and more cheaply if done by a relative. Some long-term care insurance policies will pay for family care, too.