family caregivers' services worth $306 billion annually

In this month's issue of the National Family Caregiver's newsletter Take Care! it says that Peter Arno, Ph.D., a medical economist and professor of the Department f Epidemiology and Population Health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine estimated the family caregivers' services to be worth $306 billion annually (that is three hundred and six billion dollars a year).

Why is it that the government has no problem with large corporations cheating them out of billions in Medicare fraud, but they will not pass H.R. 175 - Family Caregiver Security Act of 2005, that would allow for family caregivers to be paid as though they were nurses? I know of three states that will pay family caregivers *if* the care recipient receives Medicaid. There is nothing for family caregivers who's care recipient does not qualify for Medicaid and although caregivers can get a little in food stamps, they can not get Medicaid for themselves.