The 'consumer principle' in the care of elderly people : free choice and actual choice in the german welfare state
By: EICHLER, Melanie
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Contributor(s): PFAU-EFFINGER, Birgit.
Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell, December 2009Social Policy & Administration 43, 6, p. 617-632Abstract: In the mid-1990s, together with new long-term care legislation, the German welfare state introduced care markets and consumer choice between family care and different types of formal care. However, instead of using the new option to choose publicly funded care by long-term care agencies, the majority of elderly people in need of care continued to decide in favour of care exclusively provided by family members. The article examines how the persistence of family care in spite of the new options of consumer choice can be explained, using data from representative surveys on the care of elderly people in Germany and the results of guided interviews by the authors with family members involved in care. The findings indicate that there are two main reasons. The first is that elderly people and their families orient their behaviour towards traditional care values in which the first priority is given to mutual support between spouses and generations. The second reason is that elderly people on the one hand and care agencies on the other have substantially different definitions of a good quality of care.
In the mid-1990s, together with new long-term care legislation, the German welfare state introduced care markets and consumer choice between family care and different types of formal care. However, instead of using the new option to choose publicly funded care by long-term care agencies, the majority of elderly people in need of care continued to decide in favour of care exclusively provided by family members. The article examines how the persistence of family care in spite of the new options of consumer choice can be explained, using data from representative surveys on the care of elderly people in Germany and the results of guided interviews by the authors with family members involved in care. The findings indicate that there are two main reasons. The first is that elderly people and their families orient their behaviour towards traditional care values in which the first priority is given to mutual support between spouses and generations. The second reason is that elderly people on the one hand and care agencies on the other have substantially different definitions of a good quality of care.
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