Challenges and Issues Under Long-Term Care Insurance for the Elderly in Japan

This article examines the Long-Term Care Insurance (LTCI) program for the elderly in Japan. LTCI is presented as Japan's policy approach to the growing need for care for the elderly. The paper describes the context around which the policy was developed, describes details about the policy, and the implementation issues of the policy. The paper traces the role of social work as a profession in Japan as it relates to the issues of implementing LTCI. Suggestions are made in this paper for possible integration of social work professional roles in effective implementation of LTCI.