Combining welfare mix and New Public Management: The case of long-term care insurance in Germany

Abstract

With the introduction of Long-term Care Insurance, Germany restructured formal care provision by implementing reforms inspired by New Public Management (NPM), emphasising the market, competition and efficiency. The article analyses the process of implementation of NPM measures within the preconditions of Germany's welfare mix of care responsibility and the political-administrative system of the social insurance-based welfare state. Conceptually, it combines welfare mix approaches with NPM concepts. Empirically, it is based on a literature review and representative statistics. The article reveals how the German assumptions on welfare mix paved the way for NPM reforms and how the social insurance-based welfare state strengthened the position of the state. It shows the increase of for-profit providers, tensions emerging due to new organisational forms of care provision and underlying values within welfare associations, and the situation of care workers. The analysis undermines the idea of NPM as a mere management technique. © 2012 The Author(s) International Journal of Social Welfare © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare.