A will and a way : what Americans can learn about long-term care from Canada

As an aid to developing reasonable public long-term-care policies in the United States, this Note describes and analyzes the ongoing experience in British Columbia, Manitoba, and Ontario, in implementing their long-term care benefits. It examines how many people used the benefits and the characteristics of the users; the costs of the programs and how they were contained; how adding nursing home benefits affected the use and costs of other segments of the delivery system and how expanded home care programs affected nursing home use; arrangements to stimulate the desired supply of appropriate services and to monitor their quality; and what problems were encountered in the evolution of long-term care from the perspectives of provincial policymakers, long-term-care providers, and citizens. The Canadian experience suggests that universal long-term-care entitlements are feasible and affordable. It shows that expanded services can be provided within a controllable budget. This Note is simultaneously being published by Columbia University Press under the title A Will and a Way: What the United States Can Learn from Canada About Caring for the Elderly.