The Future of Long-term Care in Japan

         
Author Name SHIMIZUTANI Satoshi  (Consulting Fellow, RIETI)
Creation Date/NO. July 2013 13-E-064
Research Project Toward a Comprehensive Resolution of the Social Security Problem: A new economics of aging
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Abstract

This paper reviews a decade of implementation of the public long-term care insurance (LTCI) program in Japan, which is now experiencing unprecedented pressure from its rapidly aging population. This overview of the program's features focuses on the incentive mechanisms and diversity, and examines official future projections of LTCI costs and their accompanying assumptions. It also includes the discussion of possible reforms for the LTCI program, with an emphasis on the micro aspects of LTCI, as evidenced by the Japanese Study on Aging and Retirement (JSTAR).