Ethical value and challenges of long-term care insurance

BackgroundIssues of the aging population and disability of older persons have been rapidly developing in China over the past 20 years. Since 2016, the Chinese government has been exploring remedies to alleviate social and family burdens and ensure the dignity of the disabled old persons by implement...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Yucen, Weng (Author) ; Min, Chen (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2023
In: Nursing ethics
Year: 2023, Volume: 30, Issue: 2, Pages: 222-231
Further subjects:B China
B Ethical value
B disabled older persons
B long-term care insurance
B Equality
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:BackgroundIssues of the aging population and disability of older persons have been rapidly developing in China over the past 20 years. Since 2016, the Chinese government has been exploring remedies to alleviate social and family burdens and ensure the dignity of the disabled old persons by implementing long-term care insurance systems in a few pilot cities across the country.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to present the current challenges faced by China’s long-term care insurance system and put forth suggestions for the future, based on literature research and the feedback obtained from its implementation in pilot areas.Research DesignThis paper conducts a theoretical study based on the principles of public health ethics.Study SampleSince 2016, China has launched two batches of pilot cities for long-term care insurance. The analysis object of this study is the feedback on the policy implementation of the existing 29 pilot cities that participated. The relevant data involved in the analysis are from the authors' field research and published literature on the analysis of pilot cities.AnalysisThe ethical value and importance of long-term care insurance policies in China are evaluated from the perspectives of policy philosophy and social individual interests.ResultsThe results of this evaluation show that the core ethical values were not met in the development of China’s current long-term care insurance system. Moreover, distributive justice norms were neglected, and access to the system between different social groups and within the groups covered by it was unequal.ConclusionsThis paper argues that long-term care insurance should not differentiate between urban and rural areas in allocating nursing resources. Additionally, it would be essential to build democratic supervision and manage public opinions by adopting open and transparent information-sharing policies. Standards of disability assessments and treatment payment should be at par to ensure a balance between the rights and obligations of policyholders.
ISSN:1477-0989
Contains:Enthalten in: Nursing ethics
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/09697330221128905