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Long-term care (LTC) insurance in Germany covers all people who need LTC regardless of age. Although both Japan and Germany adopted social insurance for LTC, there exist differences between them. Distinct aspects of LTC insurance in Germany include: 1) benefits are fixed depending on three types of severity, which is assessed based on the activities of daily living, and it aims to cover only the basic or minimum need for LTC, 2) beneficiaries are given the choice between cash benefits and benefits-in-kind in order to promote the role of family (informal care-givers), and 3) the insurer is a not-for-profit organization and financing is entirely dependent on contribution without government subsidy. Since the introduction of LTC insurance in Germany, delivery system of LTC has expanded with active roles of private providers. When introducing the public financing mechanism for LTC, Korea should seriously take into account the policy priority, nature of risk, optimal timing of introduction, share of public and private responsibility, role of family, infrastructure of delivery system, community- vs institution-based care, and coordination between health care and social care.
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