Elderly long-term care in Korea

Abstract

The national mandatory elderly long-term care insurance (LTCI) was established in Korea in July 2008. One year after introduction of the LTCI, 5.2% of the elderly population aged 65 years and older were beneficiaries. The applicant's caregiver(s) submit an application form along with a statement of a doctor's medical opinion to the National Health Insurance Corporation, after which one or two National Health Insurance Corporation staff members (either a nurse or social worker) visit the applicant's house to evaluate their physical and mental status. The majority of beneficiaries are reported to have one or more chronic conditions. The problem is that national LTCI and national medical insurance are separate now in Korea. However, it is almost impossible to separate long-term care and health care. Even though long-term care facilities contract physicians or hospitals to have physicians visit care facilities regularly, the reward for these physicians is not satisfactory and sometimes they work without pay. Furthermore, contracted physicians cannot properly manage the elderly in long-term care facilities because they are not legally allowed to provide any medical services to long-term care facilities except for prescribing medicine. The efficient linkage of long-term care and health care is a big task in Korea that is under discussion by full-time physicians working for long-term care facilities.