The Israeli long-term care insurance law: Selected issues in providing home care services to the frail elderly

Hillel Schmid*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

The paper describes and analyses selected issues related to the provision of home care services to frail elderly people following the Israeli Long-Term Care Insurance Law (1988). The goals and principles of the Law, which mandates the provision of home care services to frail elderly people, are presented. The paper also evaluates its contribution toward enhancing the well-being of elderly clients. Several major dilemmas that arose following implementation of the Law are analysed and evaluated in comparison with other countries that have enacted and implemented similar laws. These dilemmas are community vs institutional care; services in kind vs monetary allowances; service provision through contracting out with nongovernmental agencies; unstable and unskilled labour force; and service quality. Finally, policy implications are discussed, mainly in the following areas: investment in human resources as a condition for achieving high service quality, and the need for coordination between the agencies that provide long-term care services to elderly people.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)191-200
Number of pages10
JournalHealth and Social Care in the Community
Volume13
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2005

Keywords

  • Community and institutional care
  • Long-term care
  • Quality of services
  • Quasi-markets
  • Services in kind

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