Care Providers in Japan: Before and After the Long-Term Care Insurance

Abstract

Since the 1980s, the theory of New Public Management has had widespread influence throughout Europe in the field of welfare. A cross-national comparison shows that since the 1990s there has been a growing trend toward the introduction of both private consignment for care services and voucher systems. This is true even in the Scandinavian countries that have hitherto been noted for providing welfare services through the public sector. For example, in some cities in Sweden there are already municipalities where over 50 percent of care services are provided by private enterprises. This wave of quasi-marketization of care services has also exerted a strong influence on the Japanese elderly care.