Health Care Services and Receipt of Care Allowance

This paper uses innovative models and detailed health data to analyse the relationships between the health care services received by older persons and the long-term care allowance system. First-time receipt of long-term care benefits can be predicted relatively well. Age, inpatient stays in hospitals, contacts with general practitioners and the use of drugs for the nervous system correlate most strongly with the first-time receipt of long-term care benefits. When moving to a higher care allowance level, the most important factors are the previous care allowance level, age and the use of drugs for the nervous system. Existing care allowance level correlates strongly with entry into inpatient care, as does frequency of contact with general practitioners and age. Previous diagnosis of essential (primary) hypertension and recent computed tomography scans are statistically related to the length of hospitalisation of long-term care benefit recipients. The article draws health policy conclusions from these findings.