“In sickness and in health”: what no one tells you about caring for a loved one

Laura Mauldin combines her personal experience as a partner-caregiver with interviews of dozens of couples to reveal how U.S. health and care systems rely on unpaid loved ones. She examines the emotional, financial, and social consequences of caregiving, showing how ableism and policy gaps shape everyday decisions for disabled people and their partners. The book centers individual stories to illuminate structural failures and to argue that care should be a collective, not solely private, responsibility. Mauldin blends memoir, sociology, and reporting to humanize policy debates about Medicaid, long-term care, and disability. Ultimately, she aims to reduce shame, expand conversations about care, and call for systemic solutions that relieve the burden placed on families.