VOX  CEPR Policy Portal

Long-term care services are at the forefront of a new wave of reforms extending public intervention into healthcare, but it is unclear how the government should intervene to fund and organise such services. This column suggests some strengths and weaknesses of public financing and organisation of long-term care, including its weak financial sustainability and some potential knock-on effects on saving behaviour. However, publicly funded systems deliver better equity of access. Non for profit and autonomous organisations provide better care.