Unit Costs of Care Services in Long-Term Care Insurance in Korea - Its Characteristics and Evaluation -

노인장기요양보험 수가 개발의 특성과 평가

The care market has a unique characteristic that cannot be understood only by pure consumerism. It is not simply constituted by the relationship between consumers and providers at a uni-dimensional level of consumerism logic; rather, it operates in the tripartite-dimensional relationship between the state, consumers and providers through the design and regulation of policies by the state(Evers 1994). The unit costs of long-term care insurance has a meaning as the signal of state for policy direction. This paper consists three contents. The first, it provides to examine the developing process and method of the unit costs of long-term care and to define the characteristics of the developing method of unit costs of the Korean Long term care Insurance. The second, it tried to evaluate the adequacy, validity, and equity of unit costs of care. The third, it proposed the policy direction and measures focused on state's role as price determinator and regulator of care market in that unit costs of care is very important factors for formation and operating of care market.

노인장기요양보험 수가는 서비스시장에게 국가가 노인장기요양정책을 이끌고 나가고자 하는 정책방향을 보여주는 정책적 신호의 의미를 지닌다. 본 논문에서는 첫째, 한국의 노인장기요양보험의 급여종류별 수가가 어떠한 방법과 근거를 가지고 개발되었는가를 살펴보고, 그 특성을 규명하고자 하였다. 둘째, 평가기준을 가지고 수가개발의 타당성과 현실적 적절성 등을 평가해보고자 하였다. 셋째, 수가가 노인장기요양보험 시장의 합리적 형성 및 운영을 위한 중요한 요인임을 감안하여, 가격결정자와 규제자로서의 국가의 역할에 주안점을 두고 정책과제를 도출해보고자 하였다.