Under a revision of the nursing-care insurance law, the nation's care system for the elderly (people aged 65 or older) entered a new stage on April 1, the first day of fiscal 2006. This stage boosts efforts to prevent the health of senior citizens from deteriorating to the point that they need expensive care. The revision is aimed at holding down insurance-system costs, which have been rising as Japanese society ages.
The individual municipalities or associations of municipalities that have been operating the insurance system will play an important role in the new approach. Efforts and creative thinking are called for in order to provide easy-to-use services that will be welcomed by the elderly members of local communities.
At present, some 4 million out of Japan's 25 million people aged 65 or older are designated as beneficiaries who need the system's care, double the corresponding figure of when it was inaugurated in fiscal 2000. Such a significant increase suggests that the services provided by the system are being used not only by people who really need intensive care but also by those whose conditions are not so serious.