Abstract
Japan has moved toward socialization of care for the frail elderly by introducing a public, mandatory Long Term Care Insurance on April 1, 2000. The program covers both home-based and institutional caregiving. The budget of the insurance is based on fifty percent from the general tax and another fifty percent from the premium of the insured. The eligibility process begins with the individual or his/her family applying to the insurer (usually municipal government). That is followed by the two-step assessment process that determines the limit of benefit. The first is on-site assessment using the 79 items of standardized questionnaire. The 74 items are analyzed by the official computer program to classify applicant into one of 7 levels of dependency or to reject eligibility. In this article, the authors explain this logic in detail.
