Financing long-term care: New and unresolved questions

Abstract

Europe is confronted with an ageing population. The surge of the baby-boom generation and further gain in longevity, combined with continued below-replacement fertility rates, led to a significant increase in the number of people age 65 and over in Europe. While an ageing population is undeniably a great achievement for societies with an obvious economic value (Breyer et al., 2010), it is at the same time an unprecedented challenge for societies, governments and private markets. Today’s European populations are expected to live longer than previous generations, but part of these populations will live these extra years of life with some level of dependency requiring the use of long-term care (LTC). LTC is a set of services provided on a daily basis, formally or informally, at home or in institutions, to people suffering from a loss of mobility and autonomy in their activity of daily living. Although loss of autonomy may occur at any age, its frequency rises with age.