Abstract:

Since WWII, a slowing economy & rapidly aging society have resulted in serious social & economic problems in Japan that necessitated changes in policies for the aged. Universal health care & pensions were introduced in the 1950s & significantly expanded in the 1970s. However, policies to stem overuse were established in the 1980s & 1990s &, in 1989, the focus shifted to community-based & in-home services, coupled with preventive health strategies. The Gold Plan of 1989 & the New Gold Plan of 1994 stressed home-help services & day care centers aimed at developing a structure of public support to care for the elderly in the family & community context. Japan's national policies are a contrast to the more-fragmented policies for the elderly in the US, where unequal access is more pronounced. However, Japan's policies also emphasize cost containment, which is in keeping with the goal of political, economic, & bureaucratic elites to preserve Japan as a primary world economic force.