Long-Term Care Financing

Abstract

Financing long-term care; Long-term care cost; Long-term care fund Definition Long-term care (LTC) financing refers to the collection, management, and distribution of funds by legal approaches (private insurances, co-payments, taxes, social insurances, etc.) to support the LTC insurance and services for older adults who may require assistance with daily living activities (Stone 2000; Ranci and Pavolini 2013; European Commission 2015) and to ensure the quality and appropriateness of LTC services (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)/European Commission 2013; Feng 2019). In most countries, LTC funds can pay for the range of home-and communitybased services, including personal care (bathing, toileting, or eating) and supportive services (house cleaning, meal preparation, or shopping) as well as traditional home healthcare (nursing, therapy, and home health aide care) and community services (home-delivered meals and adult daycare) (Ikegami and Campbell 2002; Manton et al. 2006; Ranci and Pavolini 2013; World Health Organization 2015; Brugiavini et al. 2017). As the definitions and services of LTC vary across countries (World Health Organization and Milbank Memorial Fund 2000), the scope of LTC financing that should be included varies across countries, or even within a country over time, because of different socioeconomic and policy-based considerations. Regardless of its varying scope, LTC financing usually consists of four important components: coverage, financing sources, management, and payment. Overview In tandem with aging populations, the demand for LTC services for a growing number of older people with disabilities or chronic illnesses is increasing rapidly worldwide (O'Leary and Chow 2016). For example, in Europe, the demand is projected to grow from 27 million people in