Hoshino S
Japan Women's University, Kawasaki-shi, Japan.
J Aging Soc Policy. 1996;8(2-3):37-55. doi: 10.1300/J031v08n02_04.
The aging population of Japan is causing serious concern among social policymakers. The most urgent issue is to find a way to pay for the health and social care of the frail elderly. After universal coverage of pension and health insurance was achieved, but just before the economic growth rate was considerably slowed, in part, because of the oil crisis, the Japanese government more than doubled pension benefits and made medical care for the elderly free. Since the early 1980s, the government has tried hard to cut and control these benefits, only with moderate success. With a consumption tax rate of only 5%, rather than the proposed 7%, the government is now considering establishing a new health and social care insurance scheme for the elderly to finance the increasing cost of their care.
日本人口老龄化问题引发了社会政策制定者的严重关切。最紧迫的问题是找到一种方法来支付体弱老年人的医疗和社会护理费用。在实现养老金和医疗保险全民覆盖之后，但就在经济增长率大幅放缓之前，部分原因是石油危机，日本政府将养老金福利提高了一倍多，并为老年人提供免费医疗。自20世纪80年代初以来，政府一直在努力削减和控制这些福利，但成效有限。鉴于消费税税率仅为5%，而非提议的7%，政府目前正考虑为老年人建立一项新的医疗和社会护理保险计划，以支付不断增加的护理费用。
