The Current Status and Implications of the Elderly Long term Care Policy in Korea

Abstract

Korea’s elderly population will further increase in the coming decades, and so will the socioeconomic demand for their care. The amount of care services has increased with the introduction of the long-term care insurance, the expansion of the long-term care hospitals, and the elderly care system in the local community. As a result, the long-term care spending, reflecting the demographic structure, reached the OECD average level. However, the coverage level remains low in terms of spending. One of the major cause of the financial inefficiency is the high level of “social hospitalization”. Recently, several policy measures have been taken to reduce social hospitalization, such as the reimbursement rate adjustment, the pilot project of the medical-care integrated judgment system, and the community-based integrated care initiative. However, despite of these policy measures, social hospitalization has not declined. This study proposed several policy suggestions to reduce social hospitalization such as the reform of the financial and delivery system, and strengthening performance evaluation focusing on social hospitalization rate indicators.