Compulsory insurance may fund home care

Compulsory long-term insurance, means-tested co-payments, and funding through taxation are among the options put forward in a new report that will inform debate around the future funding of formal statutory home care.

However, in European countries where these models exist, the need to contain costs due to demand has led to rises in co-payments and a tightening of eligibility criteria, making formal home care more difficult to access.

The report, Approaches to the Regulation and Financing of Home Care Services in Four European Countries, looked at Germany, the Netherlands, Scotland and Sweden.