Journal of Nursing & Care

Nursing Care for Elderly People in Germany and China: A Bilateral Comparison and Exploration of Policy Transfer

Abstract

Tao Liu

This article is dedicated to outlining two nursing care models for elderly people in Germany and China. Shaped by the European welfare state model, Germany has launched a statutory long-term care insurance program aimed at integrating multiple actors, such as the family, intermediary organizations, non-profit organizations and private providers into a supply structure within a mandatory social care insurance system, where the welfare state acts as lawmaker and regulator for public nursing care. Compared to the German system, China has a rudimentary nursing care system characterized by a hybrid model, which relies on both conventional family care and individual private insurance. After introducing elderly care in both countries, this review article explores the possibility of transferring the German model of long-term care insurance to China to reduce the increasing problem of elderly care. The soaring demand for elderly care and underdeveloped public services for nursing care represent a great challenge for contemporary Chinese society.