Population ageing and wellbeing: lessons from Japan's long-term care insurance policy.

Japan's population is ageing rapidly because of long life expectancy and a low birth rate, while traditional supports for elderly people are eroding. In response, the Japanese Government initiated mandatory public long-term care insurance (LTCI) in 2000, to help older people to lead more independent lives and to relieve the burdens of family carers. LTCI operates on social insurance principles, with benefits provided irrespective of income or family situation; it is unusually generous in terms of both coverage and benefits. Only services are provided, not cash allowances, and recipients can choose their services and providers. Analysis of national survey data before and after the programme started shows increased use of formal care at lower cost to households, with mixed results for the wellbeing of carers. Challenges to the success of the system include dissatisfaction with home-based care, provision of necessary support for family carers, and fiscal sustainability. Japan's strategy for long-term care could offer lessons for other nations.

Lessons from public long-term care insurance in Germany and Japan.

The U.S. Congress is considering the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act, a voluntary insurance program that would help pay for long-term services and supports to disabled Americans. In Germany and Japan, social insurance programs are universal, support family caregivers, and allow individuals considerable flexibility in securing the services they require. We explored differences between Germany and Japan in program goals, eligibility process, scope, size, and sustainability for possible applications in the United States. Moreover, when we compared public spending on long-term care, we found that spending in the United States is actually higher than in Germany even now, prior to enactment of the CLASS Act, and is only slightly lower than in Japan.

Japan's health care system: containing costs and attempting reform.

As Japan's economy declined, more intensive control of prices and even volume through the fee schedule, plus increases in various copayment rates, led to an actual reduction of medical spending in 2002 for the first time in history. To augment established mechanisms of cost containment, case-mix-based inclusive fees for inpatient care were introduced in university hospitals in 2003 and are planned for subacute and long-term care. However, substantial reform, including the introduction of market-based medicine, is not likely to occur in other areas. Progress in making the delivery system more accountable to patients has been meaningful but slow.