title: Financing long-term care for frail elderly in France: the ghost reform.
abstract: Like many welfare states, France is faced with increasing demand for long term care (LTC) services. Public LTC coverage has evolved over the past 15 years, reaching a coverage depth of 70%. Nonetheless, it does not provide adequate and equitable financial protection for the growing number of frail elderly individuals, who are expected to constitute 3% of the population by the year 2060. Since 2005, various financing reform proposals have been debated, ranging from a newly covered risk under the social security system to targeted subsidies for private LTC insurance. However, to date no reform measure has been enacted. This article provides a brief history of publicly financed LTC in France in order to provide a context for the ongoing debate, including the positions and relative political power of the various stakeholders and the doubtful short-term prospect for reform.
authors.affiliation: AP-HP, Henri Mondor-Albert Chenevier Hospitals, Department of Public Health, 94000 Créteil, France. karine.chevreul@urc-eco.fr
authors.forename: Karine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chevreul
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Berg Brigham
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005380:Financing, Government / Q000458:organization & administration; D016330:Frail Elderly; D005602:France; D018166:Health Care Reform; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000191:economics* / Q000639:trends; D009313:National Health Programs; D011057:Politics; D012112:Residential Facilities
keywords: France; Insurance; Long-term care; Politics; Public financing; Reform