Key Findings
Thailand has already made considerable progress in recognizing the aging challenge and has initiated policy reforms and development programs to address it at both national and local levels. The country is now working to expand access to long-term care at the community level as part of existing volunteer-supported primary health care system.
The report assesses the current and future demand for long-term care services in Thailand as well as highlights opportunities and constraints to grow access to long-term care.
- Most elderly Thais age in their homes and are looked after by their families but the traditional familial care arrangement is becoming increasingly difficult for many families as the ratio of elderly to working-age Thais increases. In the next two decades, the number of Thais over 80 requiring assistance is projected to increase over six-fold to almost 2.5 million.
- Most in need of elder care continue to depend on family and community care as the institutional long-term care costs are high and most Thais cannot can afford it without government support.
- Thailand’s Universal Coverage Scheme does not currently cover any institutional long-term care due to its high cost. Institutional care services remain underinsured even for the elderly with high needs (that is, elderly with dementia, bedridden elderly), and programs to help families with these expenses are limited in coverage.
- There are shortages of suitably trained aged care workers and lack of appropriate training for family carers and aged care workers.
- The growing demand for aged care services presents opportunities for business investment and job creation. There is an opportunity to fill the gaps in the supply of affordable and adequate care (at home, in communities and in institutions care) for elders with long-term care needs. The development of the high-end retirement community living options for the more affluent elders can be considered to create more jobs in the industry.
The report makes the following policy recommendations on how to further support the expansion of the long-term care sector:
- Strengthen the government’s stewardship role in aged care. This includes improving capacity for needs assessment (at the level of service delivery) and also for forecasting care needs (at the policy level) and develop information system with reliable data.
- Build a fiscally sustainable system for financing long-term care to ensure universal access, based on needs assessment. Thailand can transition to a more formalized model of long-term care financing by, for example, broadening the universal health coverage scheme to include targeted long-term care subsidies to those deemed most in need.
- Foster the development of industry associations and public-private partnerships responding to the growing demand for long-term care services in the private market.
- Strengthen the community support system especially in areas with low capacity.
- Invest in enhanced training for care workers and consider how to tap migrant labor pools for jobs where local labor supply is limited.
- Review and gradually increase the Old Age Allowance benefit amount.