Old age generally refers to the period beyond 80 years, marked by increasing fragility and a need for appropriate support. Living this stage better relies on concrete solutions that go beyond the medical framework: housing adaptation, coordination of home caregivers, digital monitoring tools. In recent years, the French landscape of assistance for the elderly has undergone regulatory and organizational changes that directly affect access to services and their cost for families.
Home autonomy service: what the merger of aid-care changes
Law n° 2022-1616 and decree n° 2023-608 of July 13, 2023, created the home autonomy service (SAD), a unique structure combining the former home help service and the nursing care service. The goal is to eliminate the dual management that forced families to coordinate multiple contacts themselves.
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With the SAD, an elderly person with loss of autonomy has a single point of contact capable of organizing both household help, personal care, and nursing services. This simplification reduces the disruptions in care pathways, which are common when the schedules of two distinct structures do not coincide.
Structures must comply by June 30, 2025, at the latest. For family caregivers, this means fewer administrative procedures and better clarity of the local offerings. Platforms like seniorizon.fr help identify available services based on geographic location and level of dependency.
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Increase in the cost of home help for those aged 70-79 starting July 2026
Decree n° 2026-261 of April 8, 2026, raises the age for automatic exemption from employer contributions for hiring a home helper from 70 to 80 years. Before this date, anyone aged 70 and over benefited from this relief, regardless of their health situation.
As of July 1, 2026, retirees aged 70 to 79 who do not receive either the APA (personalized autonomy allowance) or the PCH (disability compensation benefit) will lose this exemption. The additional cost is estimated at over two euros per hour, affecting approximately 350,000 households.
Practical consequences for families
For a home helper working twenty hours a week, the monthly bill increases significantly. Several scenarios emerge:
- Reducing the number of intervention hours, with an increased risk of isolation and deterioration of health.
- Switching to mixed solutions: human assistance for a few hours a day, supplemented by teleassistance or fall detection sensors for the rest of the time.
- Requesting the APA if the loss of autonomy justifies it, which restores the exemption but requires a GIR assessment by the department.
This reform forces families to rethink home care not as a single block, but as a combination of human and technical resources tailored to the precise need.
Gerontechnology at home: which tools provide real assistance
The term gerontechnology encompasses all technologies designed to meet the needs of elderly people or those with loss of autonomy. Behind this broad term, not all solutions are equal. Some have proven their daily usefulness, while others remain at the experimental stage.
Teleassistance and sensors: the basis for secure maintenance
Classic teleassistance (medallion or bracelet with alert button) has existed for decades. Its current version includes geolocation and automatic fall detection, with no action required from the person. Motion sensors installed in the home analyze habits (time of getting up, trips to the bathroom, opening the refrigerator) and report any anomalies to caregivers or a monitoring center.
These devices do not replace human intervention. They reduce the alert time in case of a nighttime fall, the leading cause of prolonged hospitalization among those over 80.
Home automation and voice assistants: adapting the home without major renovations
Automated roller shutters, presence-detection lighting, connected locks to grant access to caregivers remotely: these home automation devices limit difficult physical movements and secure mobility within the home.
Voice assistants allow for making calls, triggering alerts, or reminding medication intake with simple voice commands. For individuals with fine motor difficulties, voice control eliminates the barrier of the touchscreen.
Family caregivers: respite options still little known
Support for the elderly heavily relies on relatives. However, caregiver fatigue is often an underestimated factor leading to institutional placement. Several options exist to provide respite:
- Day care in specialized facilities, allowing the elderly person to maintain a social life while freeing the caregiver for a few hours a week.
- Temporary accommodation in assisted living or nursing homes, usable for a few weeks a year without losing the benefit of the APA at home.
- Support and respite platforms, funded by departments, offering support groups and practical training (manual handling, stress management).
These solutions remain little known to families, often discovered too late, at the time of hospitalization or exhaustion. Local associations and municipal social action centers (CCAS) are the first point of contact to identify available resources in a given area.
The combination of a well-coordinated SAD, targeted gerontechnology tools, and structured support for caregivers forms the foundation of home care today. The increase in costs related to the April 2026 decree makes this calibration even more crucial: every hour of human assistance must be positioned where technology is insufficient.