Financing Long-Term Care: Lessons From Abroad
by Howard Gleckman
June 2007
IB#7-8
Introduction
As the United States searches for ways to reform its system of financing long-term care, it may learn from the experiences of other developed nations. In Japan and much of Europe, public benefits for the long-term care of the aged have become a pillar of social policy, on par with retirement and health care.
Many of these nations embarked on major reforms in their long-term care programs beginning in the mid-1990s. However, they have taken quite different approaches. This brief will review the experiences of Germany, Japan, France, and the United Kingdom and highlight potential lessons for the United States.
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Howard Gleckman is a visiting fellow at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. He is a 2006-2007 Kaiser Family Foundation Media Fellow and senior correspondent (on leave) in the Washington bureau of Business Week. This brief is the second in a series. The first one — “Medicaid and Long-Term Care: How Will Rising Costs Affect Services for an Aging Population” — is available here.