Abstract
The objectives of this study were to find out the current situation regarding usage of the long-term care insurance service, 2 years after its inception, and to compare the service usage among different categories of required care level users, as well as to provide basic data for comparisons between pre- and post-revision of the long-term care insurance system. The subjects were 80 persons, who were day-care rehabilitation users of N General Home Care Center, Nishino-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture. For each category of the required care level, the unit numbers of care provision limits and total of all services were calculated as percentages of care service usage. In addition the results of each care service usage were split into two groups according to the required level of care (light: levels 0-2; severe: levels 3-5). The service usage for each required care level was about 60% of the respective amount of the care provision limit. Day-care services were mostly used by the "light" group of users, whereas the "severe" group of users mostly used home visit services. From the analysis of welfare equipment lending, it is thought that the "severe" group of users want to create an environment centered on life at home.
