Building ‘implicit partnerships’? Financial long-term care entitlements in Europe

Abstract

The design of public subsidies for long-term care (LTC) programmes to support frail, elderly individuals in Europe is subject to both tight budget constraints and increasing demand preassures for care. However, what helps overcoming the constraints that modify LTC entitlements? We provide a unifying explanation of the conditions that facilitate the modification of public financial entitlements to LTC. We build on the concept of ‘implicit partnerships’, an implicit (or ‘silent’) agreement, encompassing the financial co-participation of both public funders, and families either by both allocating time and/or financial resources to caregiving. Next, we provide suggestive evidence of policy reforms modifying public entitlements in seven European countries which can be classified as either ‘implicit user partnerships’ or ‘implicit caregiver partnerships’. Finally, we show that taxpayers attitudes mirror the specific type of implicit partnership each country has adopted. Hence, we conclude that the modification of long-term care entitlements require the formation of some type of ‘implicit partnership'.