Comparing the Long-Term Care Insurance Programs of Korea and Japan

The Long-term Care Insurance programs Korea were implemented in July 2008 and Japan in April 2000. Though the Korean LTCI has been influenced by the Japanese LTCI, they have dissimilar as well as similar features. The most noticeable difference between the Korean LTCI and the Japanese LTCI is that the former does not have care managers who can perform case management for care users unlike the latter. The Japanese LTCI care managers, however, are hired by care providers. Therefore, care managers may not work for care users’ best interests when the interests of care providers conflict with the interests of care users. Poor working conditions such as low benefits and wages, job instability, and heavy workload have led to quality problems in both programs. Thus, measures to improve working conditions of care workers need to be implemented.