Long-Term Care Reforms in OECD Countries
Cristiano Gori, Jose-Luis Fernandez, and Raphael Wittenberg
Abstract
Long-term care (LTC) is a key policy priority for governments internationally. Most countries are faced with demographic and/or socio-economic changes that are resulting in a significant growth in the need for LTC services. The impact on LTC systems of higher demand is compounded by long-run increases in service unit costs, and by reductions in the availability of unpaid care, which still provides the lion share of the support for people with long-term care needs. In addition, the rising political voice of key LTC consumer groups and the mounting pressures on public service budgets mean that L ... More
Long-term care (LTC) is a key policy priority for governments internationally. Most countries are faced with demographic and/or socio-economic changes that are resulting in a significant growth in the need for LTC services. The impact on LTC systems of higher demand is compounded by long-run increases in service unit costs, and by reductions in the availability of unpaid care, which still provides the lion share of the support for people with long-term care needs. In addition, the rising political voice of key LTC consumer groups and the mounting pressures on public service budgets mean that LTC is likely to remain for the foreseeable future at the forefront of the political agenda across OECD nations. Since the 90s, long-term care policies have undergone significant transformations across many countries. In some instances, these changes have been the outcome of major explicit policy goals. In others, new systems have come about through the accumulation of incremental changes. As a result, LTC policy reforms in the last decades across OECD countries offer a rich body of experience that should inform the design of strategies for improving equity and efficiency in the LTC systems of the future. The main purpose of this book is to analyse the range of solutions adopted internationally about how to organise, regulate and fund LTC services in the face of the growing needs of ageing societies.
Keywords:
long term care,
ageing societies,
reforms,
oecd,
comparative social policy
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2015 |
Print ISBN-13: 9781447305057 |
| Published to Policy Press Scholarship Online: January 2017 |
DOI:10.1332/policypress/9781447305057.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Cristiano Gori, editor
London School of Economics
Jose-Luis Fernandez, editor
Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale
Raphael Wittenberg, editor
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