%0 Journal Article %T Notes About Comparing Long-term Care Expenditures Across Countries; Comment on “Financing Long-term Care: Lessons From Japan” %J International Journal of Health Policy and Management %I Kerman University of Medical Sciences %Z 2322-5939 %A Geyer, Johannes %D 2019 %\ 10/14/2019 %V 9 %N 2 %P 80-82 %! Notes About Comparing Long-term Care Expenditures Across Countries; Comment on “Financing Long-term Care: Lessons From Japan” %K Long-term Care %K Social Insurance %K International Comparison %K Public Expenditures %R 10.15171/ijhpm.2019.87 %X The comparison of long-term care (LTC) expenditures is a difficult task. National LTC systems differ widely in terms of eligibility criteria, level of benefits, institutional variety and regional heterogeneity. In this commentary I will first give some general remarks on cross country comparisons. Then I discuss the role of the informal sector which is the most important pillar of all LTC systems. I conclude with some background on current developments in Germany. Different from Japan Germany is extending its LTC insurance instead of containing costs. %U https://www.ijhpm.com/article_3675_0cd44139487d9c31af2e89b11a548104.pdf