Centre for Policy on Ageing



Problems and future directions of the long-term care insurance system in Japan — rethinking substitution and compensation for family care
Author(s)	Mie Morikawa
Journal title	Hallym International Journal of Aging, vol 3, no 2, 2001
Pages	pp 181-190
Keywords	Insurance [elderly] ; Health insurance ; Family care ; Social policy ; Japan.
Annotation	Japan's long-term care (LTC) insurance system should be evaluated from the viewpoint of citizens' rights to give care, together with their right to freedom from family care. In Japan, while the aim of the system was radical, substitution for family care is hardly probable for the following reasons: heavy dependence on informal care in the planning stage; restrictions that make formal care "supplemental" to informal care in the administration of services; and family caregivers being disadvantaged under this system, ending up substituting family care for outsourced services. Although the criterion of payment for family-provided care services lacks a truly feminist basis, it is not totally without merit under current LTC provision. Future agendas maintain the aim to substitute for family care, pursuing equity in the substitution, and exploring cash payments for family-provided care under certain special conditions as stipulated in the conclusion to this article. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-021216251 A
Classmark	JG: WPG: P6:SJ: TM2: 7DT
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.