Review article
https://doi.org/10.5559/di.25.1.02
Development and Difficulties of the Eldercare System in Croatia
Ivana Dobrotić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7616-3234
; Faculty of Law, Zagreb
Abstract
The paper analyses and considers the character and
consequences of reforms in the eldercare system in Croatia,
putting reforms in comparative perspective and taking into
account the existing knowledge on the effects of similar
reforms in European countries. The analysis begins with the
period of socialism when the eldercare policy started to
develop and continues through the 1990s marked by
pluralization of service providers and the beginnings of
decentralization, and the period of the 2000s until today
marked by growing fragmentation of the system and the
professionalization of non-institutional forms of care. The
social risk of dependence in older age does not have the
necessary attention of policymakers. Reforms of the past
twenty years aimed at cost-containment in the eldercare
system and the reduced role of the state, and were reflected
in marketization, individualisation and professionalization of
care. The eldercare system failed to cope with the growing
demand for services and remains of residual character,
fragmented and characterized by social assistance
orientation. Future reforms will have to seriously address the
sustainability of the eldercare system, in particular
sustainable solutions of financing long-term care.
Keywords
eldercare; individualisation of care; professionalization of care; marketization of care
Hrčak ID:
157952
URI
Publication date:
2.5.2016.
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