U.S. Long-Term Care Financing in Comparative International Perspective: Old Myths, New Ideas

This paper was presented at the National Council on Aging Annual Meeting, April 1990. As the U.S. debates reform of long-term care financing, examining other countries' approaches to long-term care for the elderly can help expand the range of reform options for consideration. To draw useful lessons from other countries' experiences, however, preconceived notions must first be re-examined about how their approaches to long-term care financing differ from ours. This paper compares the organization and financing of long-term care for the elderly in the U.S. with that of other advanced industrial countries. It is based largely on the author's own research, but also draws on recent studies by other researchers. [14 PDF pages]