The Expansion of the Korean Welfare State and Its Results – Focusing on Long‐term Care Insurance for the Elderly

Since the early 2000s, there has been considerable expansion of the K orean welfare state. In particular, a new compulsory long‐term care insurance ( LTCI ) for older people was introduced in 2008, facilitating the socialization of long‐term care ( LTC ) services at a national level. This study aims to examine how the K orean welfare state has coped with the increasing LTC needs of older people caused by introducing and implementing a new LTCI system and reforming it. This study argues that the LTCI was designed to meet limited objectives, such as providing minimal coverage and affording private for‐profit market forces a predominant role in the provision of LTCI services. Owing to the implementation of the insurance, a number of achievements and shortcomings with respect to the LTCI have become evident. To address the challenges that have emerged, the K orean government announced a reform plan in 2012, which emphasized changes such as increasing coverage and improving the quality of services. Although the reform plan also shows a number of fundamental limitations, it is expected to contribute to the development of the K orean LTCI to a certain extent.