Abstract
Through an analysis of the policy process, this study examines the interface between the Long-Term Care Insurance System and the Welfare System for Persons with Disabilities, two institutional arrangements grounded in distinct normative structures and governing principles. It argues that these systems are simultaneously experiencing the advancement of institutional integration and the intensification of normative divergence.
While the Long-Term Care Insurance System has evolved under a policy rationality centered on “support for independence” and fiscal sustainability, the Welfare System for Persons with Disabilities has been shaped by domestic disability movements and international human rights norms, institutionalizing the principles of “independent living” and “rights protection.”
By clarifying the structural differences in the normative foundations of the two systems, this study highlights the growing tension embedded in their interface and underscores the need for the normative reconstruction of elderly care in later life.
