Centre for Policy on Ageing



The long term care insurance law in Japan — impact on institutional care facilities
Author(s)	Naoki Ikegami, Keita Yamauchi, Yakari Yamada
Journal title	International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 18, no 3, March 2003
Pages	pp 217-221
Keywords	Health insurance ; Insurance [elderly] ; Care homes ; Hospital services ; Periodic ; Japan.
Annotation	Following the introduction of the public long-term care (LTC) insurance in Japan in April 2000, funding that had been split between the health and social welfare sectors was unified. Everyone aged 65+ has become entitled to receive benefits according to their eligibility level, regardless of income or family support. Except for those assessed as the least dependent group, individuals can choose either community care, or residential care for which only the cost of food is an additional payment. A review of these developments suggests that despite the structural changes, the new programme's impact has been minimal on the providers of institutional care. The article notes that there have been few incentives for providers to improve the quality of care, because demand is likely to be increasingly greater than supply. Whether the generous provisions of the new programme will prove to be sustainable remains to be seen. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-030425215 A
Classmark	WPG: JG: KW: LD: 4G: 7DT
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.