A Pressure Release Valve: South Korean Long-Term Care Policy as Supplemental to Family Elder Care

ABSTRACT

South Korea’s National Long-term Care Insurance (NLTCI) has received international acclaim for its universal continuum-of-care model. Based on 25 qualitative interviews with family caregivers, this research explores the relationship between NLTCI policies and experiences of family caregiving for older people. Caregivers who share care responsibilities or are supported by other family are coping well with minor to moderate policy recommendations. Lone caregivers without support from other family are struggling and express desire for expanded services. These findings highlight a need for more consideration of the influence of family dynamics on informal caregiver burdens. Despite many strengths, NLTCI policy functions as a pressure release valve, supplementing family care for seniors – not replacing it – with minimal gender equity contributions.

KEYWORDS:

• South Korea
• long-term care policy
• family elder care
• defamilization
• gender equity

Key points

• Family caregivers for Korean seniors who share responsibilities tend to cope best.

• Lone family caregivers desire expanded state services.

• South Korea’s long-term care policy helps relieve some family caregiving burdens.

• South Korea’s national long-term care insurance functions as supplemental to family care.

• South Korea’s long-term care policy has minimal gender equity impacts.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental online material

For more information on the research methodology and data set, see: Moon, H., Cha, S., Eun, K., Kang, E., & Peng, I. (2021). The qualitative methodology and survey instruments: South Korea, CWE-GAM methodology report. Program on Gender Analysis in Economics, American University. https://doi.org/10.17606/830a-e038

Author contribution

Data collection for this article was led by Dr. Hyuna Moon and Dr. Seung-Eun Cha at the Center for Transnational Migration and Social Inclusion (CTMS) at Seoul National University, in collaboration with the Care Work and the Economy (CWE-GAM) Project at American University. The author thanks the Center for Transnational Migration and Social Inclusion (CTMS), particularly Dr. Ki-Soo Eun and Dr. Jiweon Jun, for access to this data. The author also thanks Dr. Ito Peng, Dr. Hae Yeon Choo, Dr. Josée Johnston, Dr. Markus Schafer, and Dr. Melissa Milkie for their comments and suggestions on earlier versions of this article.

Additional information

Funding

The data collection for this research was part of the Care Work and the Economy (CWE-GAM) project at American University, with financial support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.