How Are Other Countries Paying for LTSS?
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted that the American LTSS system needs to improve. The way we provide and pay for services exacerbates inequities for older adults, people with disabilities, family caregivers, and workers. In her latest report with MIT CoLab, Founder Allison Cook shares key learnings from other countries. According to the report’s executive summary:
“GERMANY has a social insurance program that provides coverage for a portion of LTSS costs to nearly all who require services. One of the longest-standing LTSS social insurance programs, it is fully funded through mandatory enrollee contributions. While this program has a deep focus on financial sustainability, it is structured to rely on caregiving and f inancial contributions of families in order to cover the remaining LTSS needs—thereby moderating its impact on equity.
JAPAN, the country with the fastest-aging population,1 has a social insurance program that provides more comprehensive LTSS coverage than Germany’s program. Half of its funding comes through enrollee contributions and the other half via government taxes. It provides more comprehensive benefits but excludes most younger individuals with disabilities.
SWEDEN has a comprehensive universal LTSS financing system with very minimal costs to beneficiaries. All who require services are able to access them, regardless of age or disability type, and the program is funded primarily through income taxes. It has a high impact on equity, but also has high costs to administer, with Sweden spending a larger portion of its GDP on LTSS than many other countries.”
Read the full report.
