The National Assembly Budget Office has published the Evaluation Report on the Long-term Care Program for the Aged, mainly assessing the financial management of the program, the accessibility and availability of the care services, and the management and supervision of long-term care institutions. The program (KRW 4.1 trillion in revenue and KRW 3.8 trillion in expenditure as of fiscal year 2014) operates in accordance with the Act on Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged.
According to the assessment on financial management, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) needs to estimate the total budget as well as the budget for each social insurance, including the Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged, to lay out a long-term financial management plan, in line with the purposes of the Framework Act on Social Security. The annual spending of the Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged has risen 38.1% on average, faster than its revenue growth of 29.8%, since 2008. The proportion of the aged 65 or older among the total population of South Korea is projected to increase from 11.0% in 2010 to 37.4% in 2050, incurring a rapid rise in the demand for the insurance. This suggests that preemptive measures should be in place to address the possible financial insecurity and burdens of the program.
The evaluation on service availability and accessibility shows that regional differences in approval rates and beneficiary grades of long-term care need to be resolved. The disapproval rates among applicants for long-term care stood at 40% for three consecutive years in North and South Jeolla Provinces, Gwangju, and South Gyeongsang Province, while they were around 20% in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul. In addition, the first and second grades of beneficiaries ranged from 5% to 10% in North Jeolla Province, while they reached between 10% and 15% in Seoul.
In terms of the management and supervision of long-term care institutions, about 20% among those at the bottom continued to receive the worst rating in the evaluation by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). After conducting the evaluation every second year, NHIS has informed local governments of the institutions that fail to meet legal standards on facilities and human resources, but MOHW and NHIS have not confirmed any related follow-up measures of the local governments. Moreover, while the numbers of both reports and long-term care institutions have been on the rise, on-site inspections by local governments at the city, county, and district levels decreased from 2,025 in 2010 to 921 in 2014.
Lastly, as some prices of assistive devices for beneficiaries set by NHIS (publicly notified by MOHW) are higher than the market prices, they need to be revised appropriately. Among others, a product priced at KRW 819,000 in MOHW’s notification is sold at KRW 690,000 online.
Ha Hyunsun
According to the assessment on financial management, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) needs to estimate the total budget as well as the budget for each social insurance, including the Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged, to lay out a long-term financial management plan, in line with the purposes of the Framework Act on Social Security. The annual spending of the Long-term Care Insurance for the Aged has risen 38.1% on average, faster than its revenue growth of 29.8%, since 2008. The proportion of the aged 65 or older among the total population of South Korea is projected to increase from 11.0% in 2010 to 37.4% in 2050, incurring a rapid rise in the demand for the insurance. This suggests that preemptive measures should be in place to address the possible financial insecurity and burdens of the program.
The evaluation on service availability and accessibility shows that regional differences in approval rates and beneficiary grades of long-term care need to be resolved. The disapproval rates among applicants for long-term care stood at 40% for three consecutive years in North and South Jeolla Provinces, Gwangju, and South Gyeongsang Province, while they were around 20% in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul. In addition, the first and second grades of beneficiaries ranged from 5% to 10% in North Jeolla Province, while they reached between 10% and 15% in Seoul.
In terms of the management and supervision of long-term care institutions, about 20% among those at the bottom continued to receive the worst rating in the evaluation by the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS). After conducting the evaluation every second year, NHIS has informed local governments of the institutions that fail to meet legal standards on facilities and human resources, but MOHW and NHIS have not confirmed any related follow-up measures of the local governments. Moreover, while the numbers of both reports and long-term care institutions have been on the rise, on-site inspections by local governments at the city, county, and district levels decreased from 2,025 in 2010 to 921 in 2014.
Lastly, as some prices of assistive devices for beneficiaries set by NHIS (publicly notified by MOHW) are higher than the market prices, they need to be revised appropriately. Among others, a product priced at KRW 819,000 in MOHW’s notification is sold at KRW 690,000 online.
Ha Hyunsun