Skip to main content

Half-Private Elderly Care

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 536 Accesses

Abstract

Welfare to the elderly is becoming more unequally distributed due to tax breaks for privately provided elderly care. The chapter examines the so-called Rut deduction that can be used for home care as well as at retirement homes. The Rut deduction means that certain groups benefit from leaving the publicly funded system and instead pay their elderly care with a mixture of private and state money. These groups may have a reduced interest in the functioning of the public elderly care. It also implies something remarkable: if the private cost of a certain amount of home care is lower in the privately funded system than in the publicly funded system, then the privately funded system is actually more publicly funded than the publicly funded system.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Bowman, J. R., & Cole, A. M. (2009). Do working mothers oppress other women? The Swedish “maid debate” and the welfare state politics of gender equality. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society,35(1), 157–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branco, R., & Costa, E. (2018). The golden age of tax expenditures: Fiscal welfare and inequality in Portugal (1989–2011). New Political Economy. https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.ub.gu.se/doi/pdf/10.1080/13563467.2018.1526264%3FneedAccess=true.

  • Carbonnier, C. (2015). The political economy of household services in Europe. New York: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gregson, N., & Lowe, M. (2005). Servicing the middle classes: Class, gender and waged domestic work in contemporary Britain. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Faricy, C. G. (2015). Welfare for the wealthy: Parties, social spending, and inequality in the United States. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johansson, L., Sundström, G., & Hassing, L. B. (2003). State provision down, offspring’s up: The reverse substitution of old-age care in Sweden. Ageing & Society,23(3), 269–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morel, N. (2015). Servants for the knowledge-based economy? The political economy of domestic services in Europe. Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society,22(2), 170–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyberg, A. (2013). RUT-avdraget–subventionering av vit sysselsättning eller av höginkomsttagares fritid? Fronesis, 42–43, 114–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Platzer, E. (2006). From private solutions to public responsibility and back again: The new domestic services in Sweden. Gender & History,18(2), 211–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szebehely, M., & Trydegård, G. B. (2007). Omsorgstjänster för äldre och funktionshindrade: skilda villkor, skilda trender? Socialvetenskaplig Tidskrift,14, 197–219.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to John Lapidus .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Lapidus, J. (2019). Half-Private Elderly Care. In: The Quest for a Divided Welfare State. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24784-3_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24784-3_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-24783-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-24784-3

  • eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceEconomics and Finance (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics