Dementia Polices in Long-term Care Insurance and Their Implications for Improvement

Abstract

The Long-term Care Insurance was introduced to improve the quality of life of the elderly who have difficulties in their daily lives and to mitigate the burden of care on family members. At the time of its introduction, the long-term care insurance was designed as a social insurance system to respond to the deterioration of physical function. However, as the number of elderly people with dementia symptoms and the burden of family care increased so much over time as to become a “social problem”, the long-term care insurance has expanded services for seniors with dementia and their families. The dementia policy in the long-term care insurance needs to become more proactive through the creation of customized professional services and environments based on the characteristics of the recipients.