Abstract

The long-term care insurance (LTCI) law was introduced in Japan in 2000 when many private home-help service providers began operating. The LTCI law was reformed in 2006 and a night home-help service was introduced. In a second reform in 2012, a twenty-four-hour routine home-visit service was set up, meaning there are now three kinds of home-help services in Japan. However, it is still difficult to get home-help service round the clock in Japan. In contrast, Denmark has succeeded in building integrated social care services 24/7. This article aims to investigate how many people are using night services in Denmark and Japan and to assess the actual conditions of night help-service coverage in the two countries. In addition, how do local governments regulate for-profit private providers? In order to investigate these questions, an analysis of night home-help services and twenty-four-hour routine home visits in Japan during 2015 is compared to a three-month 2013 survey about 24/7 home-help services in Denmark. In addition, a description of the results of the interview surveys carried out was included in this report. The coverage rate of home help at night (the total number of users of night home help and twenty-four-hour routine home visits) was only 0.3% in Japan in 2015. In the survey, the coverage rate of night home-help service users was 4.2% (Denmark A), 6.6% (Denmark B ), and 5.7% (Denmark C). The results of the investigation of Denmark’s coverage rate will be used as an indicator for Japan, namely focusing on how local government regulation over for-profit companies will be vital in solving the problem of providing 24/7 home-help services in Japan.