Market Elements in Financing and Delivering Long-Term Care

Abstract

This paper overviews major issues with the Public Long-term Care Insurance (LTCI) scheme in Japan that is to be introduced in the year 2000. Unlike other public insurance schemes on pension or health, which are mainly based on already-established individual occupational categories, LTCI is newly established and thus one could have painted an ideal picture on a blank canvas. Nevertheless, the actual outcome is quite complicated, mainly because of to a series of political compromises. Thus, let us first draw an ideal fiscal scheme of LTCI and find the way to be back there.Key wordsLong-term care insuranceFee scheduleMarket equality