title: New Long-Term Care Policies in Latin America: The National System of Care in Uruguay.
abstract: Uruguay is the Latin American country with the largest share of elderly population and it has the greatest pressure for formal long-term care services in the region. For this reason, last year the government approved a law creating a National System of Care.
  
  
  
  This article describes and analyzes the long-term care policy in the recently created National System of Care of Uruguay.
  
  
  
  The Director of the National System of Care was asked to complete a questionnaire with a description and management of long-term care programs. This information was completed with official information and peer-reviewed articles of long-term care in Uruguay.
  
  
  
  The National System of Care includes long-term care services. The main services are carried out through a cash-for-care system for home-based services, but in the future the benefits will expand to day centers and residential and nursing homes.
  
  
  
  The system follows international trends in terms of universality, services, and regulations dealing with care. However, the current and future financing is low, and this condition could undermine its development capacity.
authors.affiliation: Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Dpto. Economía, Métodos Cuantitativos e Historia Económica, Ctra. de Utrera, Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: mmatlop@upo.es.
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matus-Lopez
authors.affiliation: Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Departamento de Salud Pública, Primer Piso, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: Camilo Cid
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Pedraza
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007843:Latin America; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000191:economics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014583:Uruguay
keywords: Latin America; Long-term care policies; Uruguay; day centers; home-based care; nursing homes