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Long‐term care provision and financing are becoming increasingly important matters in all ageing economies. Therefore, a major challenge for policy makers is to strike a balance between adequate care and sustainable financing. In this study, we evaluate the proposal of a so‐called sustainability factor in German long‐term care insurance. Considering changes in the beneficiary‐contributor ratio, it aims for a rule‐based consideration of demographic dynamics to alleviate pressure on long‐term care financing. Using the framework of generational accounting, we demonstrate that this proposal could have a relieving effect on finances, depending on the share of involvement of current and future generations. It may offer an option for pay‐as‐you‐go long‐term care insurance systems worldwide that need to curb the impact of ageing societies. Therefore, this article addresses policy makers tasked with designing a sustainable financing model for long‐term care insurance. It demonstrates that the sustainability factor represents a step towards sustainable finances and, thus, it might be one component of a more comprehensive reform package. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older people and their care workers have been disproportionately affected by the COVID‐19 pandemic. Many OECD Member countries have taken measures to contain the spread of the infection and improve the care workforce. Yet the health crisis is highlighting and exacerbating pre‐existing structural problems in the long‐term care (LTC) sector. In many OECD Member countries, recruiting enough workers in LTC remains a challenge and care workers experience difficult working conditions. Skills mismatch and poor integration with the rest of health care lie at the root of preventable hospital admissions even in normal times. Such challenges are likely to become ever more acute if no further action is taken given the speed of population ageing. Policies to improve recruitment and which also address retention through training, improvements in coordination and productivity, leveraging the effect of digital technologies, are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article sets out key elements of the policy agenda for enhanced integration between health and social care for older people in high‐income countries and demonstrates its wider relevance to low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The article then explores the context for this agenda in Brazil, including growing demand for long‐term care (LTC) and current institutional arrangements. It goes on to discuss a case study project of partnering for LTC between local social assistance and health agencies in the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte. It identifies challenges and potential benefits of this partnership model, offering policy insights for LTC policy in Brazil and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we provide an overview of the current long‐term care (LTC) landscape across low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs), based on an analysis and synthesis of literature review findings. We begin with a brief assessment of LTC needs on the demand side, followed by a supply side assessment of the available mix of formal LTC services vis‐à‐vis informal care provision. Next, we describe and discuss the role of government policies in LTC provision and governance. We conclude by discussing and offering practical LTC policy considerations for LMICs, drawing on experiences, best practices and lessons learned from high‐income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

First published in April 1948 as the Bulletin of the International Social Security Association, this year marks the 75th anniversary of what, since January 1967, we have all come to know as the International Social Security Review. To mark this important anniversary, this special double issue, "The human right to long‐term care for the elderly: Extending the role of social security programmes", talks to current debates on social security coverage extension in a context of population ageing. There is a case to be made for revising the international social security standards to formally recognize long‐term care for the elderly, possibly as a distinct branch of social security. At the heart of this discussion, the questions to be addressed by all countries are the roles that social security systems can and should play in helping to meet the long‐term medical and social care needs of elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the challenges of ageing for long‐term care. The analysis proceeds in three steps. In the first step, we estimate the prospective care demand for 30 developed countries based on projected ageing and disabilities among the elderly. In the second step, we outline challenges for care systems with respect to shortages of care workers, increasing skill requirements for care workers, barriers to universal and equitable access to care, and cost containment subject to adequate care quality. In the third step, we identify solutions for these challenges by comparing the care systems of Germany, Israel, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of population ageing, healthy ageing is becoming an imperative for all. Social protection systems have an important role to play in this endeavour. Through a life cycle approach, social protection systems can support i) the prevention of disability in old age (i.e. by addressing the social determinants of health and rehabilitation), ii) effective access to long‐term care without hardship for those who need it, and iii) decent work in the care economy. To do so will require adopting a gender‐transformative approach. Indeed, women are disproportionately represented among both older persons and long‐term care providers in their diversity. Further, to adequately contribute to healthy ageing and effective access to long‐term care without hardship as a rights‐based entitlement, social protection systems will need to build strong coordination between health care, social care and other social policies. This article highlights the key entry points for social protection systems to contribute to the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing, building on the rights‐based approach of human rights and international social security standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese social security system has been the subject of numerous publications, which have made policy developments more accessible to researchers and administrators from all countries. However, the steps introduced in response to growing demands for intervention by the authorities in favour of dependent persons have remained poorly documented in the international literature. The purpose of this article is to take stock of pilot experiments in this field since the beginning of the 13th Five‐Year Plan (2016–2020) with regard to their policy objective, operating mode and financing modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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