Exploring shared options in funding long-term care for older people

Policy-makers throughout the world are faced with the question of how long-term care for dependent elderly people is to be funded. This paper discusses possible sources of funding and a variety of policy approaches which have been taken by members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, with particular emphasis on Britain. It concentrates on options which share costs between the users (and their families) and the state. Details are provided of schemes involving private sector insurance and equity release products. A variety of issues arise from the proposed use of such ‘partnership’ schemes in Britain. Discussion of these issues draws in aspects of the wider social and policy contexts.