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Old Age Care: The Swedish way

Kruse, Agneta LU (2017) In Social Science Spectrum 3(2). p.65-71
Abstract
Old age care will become an increasing task in all societies as population aging gives an increasing number of elderly that will need help with daily activities. In this article different means – and their costs – of old age care are discussed. There are three ways of organizing old age care, the family, the market and the state, each one with its pros and cons. Irrespective of form, old age care is expensive and due to aging costs will increase. Thus it is important to find forms that have both high quality and use resources efficiently. Population aging as well as migration, changing family patterns and changing economic structures pose challenges to old age care and will most probably induce changes in old types of care. There might be... (More)
Old age care will become an increasing task in all societies as population aging gives an increasing number of elderly that will need help with daily activities. In this article different means – and their costs – of old age care are discussed. There are three ways of organizing old age care, the family, the market and the state, each one with its pros and cons. Irrespective of form, old age care is expensive and due to aging costs will increase. Thus it is important to find forms that have both high quality and use resources efficiently. Population aging as well as migration, changing family patterns and changing economic structures pose challenges to old age care and will most probably induce changes in old types of care. There might be lessons to draw from other countries. The main focus of this article is on the Swedish way, with some minor references to German and Japanese ways. It is shown how the Swedish system has evolved from being mostly a responsibility of the family to today’s responsibility of the local public sector. It is tax financed and need of care is judged by local authority. Recently, privatization of providing old age care has obtained a footing, not financing though. Dissatisfaction with the care provided has lately increased the care given by family members (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
old age care, different designs, old age care, history, recent trends, Sweden
in
Social Science Spectrum
volume
3
issue
2
pages
7 pages
ISSN
2454-2806
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
502fc52c-dbfd-41dd-a647-46572d41b230
alternative location
http://socialspectrum.in/index.php/sp/article/view/98
date added to LUP
2017-10-30 11:55:03
date last changed
2020-12-10 10:34:48
@article{502fc52c-dbfd-41dd-a647-46572d41b230,
  abstract     = {{Old age care will become an increasing task in all societies as population aging gives an increasing number of elderly that will need help with daily activities. In this article different means – and their costs – of old age care are discussed. There are three ways of organizing old age care, the family, the market and the state, each one with its pros and cons. Irrespective of form, old age care is expensive and due to aging costs will increase. Thus it is important to find forms that have both high quality and use resources efficiently. Population aging as well as migration, changing family patterns and changing economic structures pose challenges to old age care and will most probably induce changes in old types of care. There might be lessons to draw from other countries. The main focus of this article is on the Swedish way, with some minor references to German and Japanese ways. It is shown how the Swedish system has evolved from being mostly a responsibility of the family to today’s responsibility of the local public sector. It is tax financed and need of care is judged by local authority. Recently, privatization of providing old age care has obtained a footing, not financing though. Dissatisfaction with the care provided has lately increased the care given by family members}},
  author       = {{Kruse, Agneta}},
  issn         = {{2454-2806}},
  keywords     = {{old age care, different designs; old age care, history, recent trends, Sweden}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{65--71}},
  series       = {{Social Science Spectrum}},
  title        = {{Old Age Care: The Swedish way}},
  url          = {{http://socialspectrum.in/index.php/sp/article/view/98}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}