Public Long-term Care Financing Arrangements in OECD Countries

With population ageing and reductions in family care, utilisation of formal long-term care for disabled people is growing in all high-income countries. Higher demand for formal services is emerging also because of people’s expectations for high-quality care. These factors are pushing up the cost of formal long-term care across OECD countries and raise questions about who should pay more prominent in policy discussions. This chapter offers an overview of public long-term care (LTC) coverage in OECD countries. For illustrative purposes, countries are clustered into three main groups, ranging from universal and comprehensive to means-tested system or systems with a mix. Over time, coverage systems are evolving towards universal systems or benefits and more user-choice models, with, in many cases, increased targeting of care benefits to those with the highest care needs.