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The Expansion of the K orean Welfare State and Its Results – Focusing on Long‐term Care Insurance for the Elderly
Author(s) -
Chon Yongho
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
social policy and administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.972
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1467-9515
pISSN - 0144-5596
DOI - 10.1111/spol.12092
Subject(s) - long term care insurance , welfare , welfare state , business , long term care , socialization , government (linguistics) , public economics , economic growth , economics , medicine , market economy , political science , nursing , psychology , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy , politics , law
Since the early 2000s, there has been considerable expansion of the K orean welfare state. In particular, a new compulsory long‐term care insurance ( LTCI ) for older people was introduced in 2008, facilitating the socialization of long‐term care ( LTC ) services at a national level. This study aims to examine how the K orean welfare state has coped with the increasing LTC needs of older people caused by introducing and implementing a new LTCI system and reforming it. This study argues that the LTCI was designed to meet limited objectives, such as providing minimal coverage and affording private for‐profit market forces a predominant role in the provision of LTCI services. Owing to the implementation of the insurance, a number of achievements and shortcomings with respect to the LTCI have become evident. To address the challenges that have emerged, the K orean government announced a reform plan in 2012, which emphasized changes such as increasing coverage and improving the quality of services. Although the reform plan also shows a number of fundamental limitations, it is expected to contribute to the development of the K orean LTCI to a certain extent.