{"id":82720,"title":"🧓 Clara - Better home care for seniors","tagline":"Marketplace software for discovering, hiring, and managing in-home caregivers","body":"# **TL;DR**\n\nClara is a home care marketplace that makes it easy for families to find and employ their ideal caregiver.\n\nOur platform uses AI to match customers with the best possible caregiver and automates compliance with built-in payroll, tax, and insurance support, all for 15-25% less than a home care agency.\n\nClara is currently live in the SF Bay Area. Sign up today at [**clarahomecare.com**](https://www.clarahomecare.com/)\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=82720\u0026key=user_uploads/1865044/7f7548dc-0c0c-4f41-b967-1b48178fb055)\n\n---\n\n# _____________________\n\n# **The Problems with Home Care**\n\n**_🧑‍⚕️🌊  More Americans than ever before need care_**\n\n* **Silver Tsunami -** 11,000 Americans will turn 65 every day from now through 2027. 69% of those will require long-term care, for an average of 3 years (HHS). \\~88% of them would prefer to age at home rather than in a facility (AARP)\n* **Care work is the fastest growing profession in the U.S.**, projected to add \u003e1M jobs by 2028. Job growth in this sector is greater than the second and third U.S. occupations with the most job growth combined (BLS)\n\n**_💸  Care costs for families are high and not correlated with quality_**\n\n* Non-medical care is **not covered by Medicare** or standard health insurance plans\n* The average out-of-pocket cost of a home health aide in SF today is [**$102,960/year**](https://www.genworth.com/aging-and-you/finances/cost-of-care)\n* Most care is delivered by **home care agencies that take 30-50% margin**, taking advantage of unsophisticated consumers who rely on referrals from overworked case managers/social workers\n* Care recipients often suffer from high caregiver turnover, with **families reporting \u003e100 caregivers cycling through their homes**\n* Fed up with agencies, many families pay independent care workers cash under the table, opening them up to **costly tax penalties and significant personal liability**\n\n**_😞 Caregivers are underpaid and disempowered_**\n\n* Avg. **hourly wages for care workers total just $14-$16/hr**. 45% of care workers live at, or near poverty.\n* **Industry-wide turnover is** [**\\~80%**](https://homehealthcarenews.com/2024/07/home-cares-industry-wide-turnover-rate-reaches-nearly-80/) due to poor pay, difficult working conditions, and unpredictable schedules\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n# _____________________\n\n### **The Solution**\n\n# **Clara helps families legally hire and manage caregivers, without the use of agency**\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=82720\u0026key=user_uploads/1865044/36bde3e7-9041-47e2-8b59-ff2416e2aa6e)\n\n**Our platform:**\n\n* 👫 Uses AI to match families with local Home Health Aides (HHAs), Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs), or experienced companion caregivers, all thoroughly vetted and background-checked\n* 📝 Makes 100% legal, on-the-books employment frictionless by automating payroll, taxes, and insurance\n* 📱Helps caregivers deliver the best care possible, while keeping families in the loop with gen-AI care management features\n\n**Our approach:**\n\n1. Improves care quality, consistency, and transparency for care recipients and their families\n2. Increases take-home pay and stability for caregivers, while providing access to key benefits like unemployment insurance and social security\n\nThat’s why our customers call us “refreshing”, and our caregivers call us “too good to be true”\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=82720\u0026key=user_uploads/1865044/6982a009-931e-411e-a09f-757acae0a0d5)\n\n_Jon and Lydia, a Clara care recipient_\n\n---\n\n---\n\n# _____________________\n\n# **Our Team**\n\n[Jon](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonlevinson1/) and [Ian](https://linkedin.com/in/ian-gillis-3a503837) met as Product and Engineering management counterparts at Uber, where they launched and grew Uber Direct, a new line of business, from $0 —\u003e \\~$1B in revenue.\n\nWhen Jon and his family faced the frustrations of finding and managing care for his father, he reached out to Ian to collaborate on a new approach. Leveraging their combined 20 years of experience building lovable consumer and marketplace tech products, they reimagined home care in America.\n\n![uploaded image](/media/?type=post\u0026id=82720\u0026key=user_uploads/1865044/cdcf2927-89be-4749-a1d5-c348067ece95)\n\n---\n\n---\n\n---\n\n# _____________________\n\n# **🙏 How you can help us**\n\n1. If you know any fantastic caregivers looking for better home care employment opportunities, kindly refer them to us at \u003chttps://www.clarahomecare.com/clara-for-caregivers\u003e\n2. We’d also love **introductions to Social Services Directors**, Case Managers, or other professionals with similar roles at post-acute rehab/skilled nursing facilities in the SF Bay Area. We’re building tooling to make their lives easier and would love early partners\n3. Show us some ❤️ by liking/following us on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/HomeCareNearMe/), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/clara_home_care/), and [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/clarahomecare)\n\n# _____________________\n\n# **💝 How we can help you**\n\nTo celebrate our launch we’re offering 50% off our service fee for the YC community. If you (or someone you know) is looking for a caregiver, or wants to explore new caregiving options for an aging loved one in the Bay Area, send them our way! Just have them complete our intake form at [clarahomecare.com,](http://clarahomecare.com) and send an email to [yc@clarahomecare.com.](mailto:yc@clarahomecare.com) Mention this offer and we’ll take 50% off their first 6 months.","slug":"LWC-clara-better-home-care-for-seniors","created_at":"2024-08-05T17:36:05.806Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T04:03:41.576Z","total_vote_count":118,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/LWC-clara-better-home-care-for-seniors","share_image_url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/media/?type=post\u0026id=82720\u0026key=user_uploads/1865044/7f7548dc-0c0c-4f41-b967-1b48178fb055","company":{"id":29643,"name":"Sage Care","slug":"sagecare","url":"https://sagecare.ai","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/8391ef28b31f763fdf577fc8631f259459023eb8.png","batch":"Summer 2024","industry":"Healthcare","tags":["AIOps","Automation","AI"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/29643"}}