How Can Private Long-term Care Insurance Supplement State Systems? The UK as a Case Study

Funded by the AXA Research Fund, this study is exploring how private long-term care insurance could supplement state systems, with the UK as a case study.

This project aims to:

consider ways in which some of the challenges facing wider take-up of long-term care insurance in the UK could be addressed, including interaction with state funding;
present estimates of the expected life-time costs of care for older people in the UK, by gender and other characteristics under different patterns of care;
present estimates of possible premiums for different potential types of private or private/public insurance policies;
consider the affordability and attractiveness for different individuals of policies with varying levels of premiums and pay-outs, for a range of assumptions on how insurance would interact with state funding; and
prepare projections to 2032 of public and private social care expenditure under different potential insurance schemes.

The study commenced in April 2010 and will end in February 2013.

Latest

Forthcoming "End of project workshop". See events and seminars for full deatils.

Publications:

Comas-Herrera A., Butterfield R., Fernández J.L., Wittenberg R. and Wiener J.M. (2012) Barriers and Opportunities for Private Long-Term Care Insurance in England: What Can We Learn FromOther Countries? Chapter in McGuire A. and Costa-Font J. (eds.) Elgar Edward LSE Companion to Health Policy, Elgar Edward, 2012.

Guillen, M. and Comas-Herrera A. (2012) How much risk is mitigated by LTC protection schemes? A methodological note and a case study of the public LTC system in Spain. Geneva Papers of Risk and Insurance 37: 712-724.

Steventon A and Roberts A. Estimating length of stay in publicly-funded residential and nursing care homes: a retrospective analysis using linked administrative data sets. BMC Health Services Research 2012, 12:377. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/377/abstract

Presentations:

European meeting of the International Microsimulation Association, 17th to 19th of May 2012, Teagasc, Ashtown, Dublin. Presentation by Ruth Hancock and Marcello Morciano entitled: Using a micro-simulation model to indentify sources of demand for private long-term care insurance under different long-term care funding systems: England as a case study.

European Health Economics Conference, 18-21 July 2012, Zurich. Organised session entitled: How Can Private Long-Term Care Insurance Supplement State Systems? The UK As a Case Study. http://eche2012.abstractsubmit.org/sessions/437/

International Conference on Evidence-based Policy in Long-term Care, 5-8 September 2012, London. Organised session entitled: How Can Private Long-Term Care Insurance Supplement State Systems? The UK As a Case Study.

Collaborating Institutions

The study involves researchers from the University of East Anglia, the Nuffield Trust and the University of Barcelona.

Contacts

Adelina Comas-Herrera
LSE - PSSRU
London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE

Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7955 7306
Fax: + 44 (0) 20 7955 6131
Email: a.comas@lse.ac.uk