Long-term care, Slovenia, 2015

In 2015, higher long-term care expenditure
Internationally comparable data on long-term care expenditure, which is one of the functions of health care in the context of the System of Health Accounts (SHA) methodology, increased in Slovenia in 2015 by 0.4% compared to 2014 and amounted to EUR 489 million. Real GDP growth was in the same period 2.3% and long-term care expenditure as a share of GDP stayed nearly the same as in 2014, i.e. 1.26%. 
 
Almost three quarters of long-term care expenditure financed from public funds
In 2015, 72.8% of long-term care expenditure was financed from public funds and the remaining 27.2% from private sources. The funding structure differed by 0.3 p.p. compared to 2014, i.e. due to the decrease in public funds and, consequently, the increase in private sources. Furthermore, in 2015 private sources of funding long-term care grew by 1.5%, while public sources were about the same as in 2014. The main providers of funds for long-term care are, as before, the social security funds, which covered around 50% of long-term care expenditure in 2015. 
 
Expenditure on the health part of long-term care twice as high as expenditure on the social part of long-term care
The ratio between the health part and the social part of long-term care does not change significantly from year to year; in 2015 it was 67 vs 33. In 2015, the share of the health part of long-term care decreased by 0.4 p.p., which means that expenditure for the social part of long-term care increased by the same percentage. The social part of long-term care includes assistance care services (the so-called IADL services or help by instrumental activities of daily living, e.g. help with shopping, laundry, etc.) that allows individuals to live independently in their own house or apartment. On the other hand, the health part of long-term care includes medical or nursing care and personal care services (the so-called ADL services or help by basic activities of daily living, e.g. help in washing, dressing, etc.) and is provided by different institutions, in the context of day-care services and in the context of home-based services, where also cash benefits are included. In 2015, in the context of long-term health care most of the expenditure was earmarked for the implementation of long-term care in institutions (nearly three quarters), followed by long-term care at home (a little more than a quarter) and finally day-care services (about half a percent).
 
Almost 80% of total long-term care expenditure goes to various institutions offering such services
As regards the method of implementation or the provision of long-term care, in terms of the structure of total long-term care expenditure in 2015, most of the expenditure was earmarked for the provision of long-term care in institutions (77.3%), mostly in homes for the elderly (58.2%), followed by long-term care in different social institutions (14.9%) and finally in hospitals (4.2%). The rest of the expenditure (22.7%) was intended for the provision of home-based long-term care, either in the form of services or as care provided by providers of nursing care in the homes for the elderly, providers of home help service and family assistants or in the form of cash benefits. Compared to 2014, in 2015 there was a slight decrease in the share of home-based expenditure (by 0.8 of a percentage point).

In 2015, almost 61,100 long-term care recipients
In 2015, there were 334 more long-term care recipients than in 2014, i.e. 61,084. The share of recipients receiving long-term care in institutions was the largest at 36.7% (or almost 22,500). They were followed by recipients of long-term care at home with a share of 35.4% or a little more than 21,600, and recipients who were receiving only cash allowances to cover different services in the context of long-term care with a little more than a quarter or around 16,600. The actual number of recipients of cash benefits in the context of long-term care is much higher (a little more than 41,000), but the final number of recipients follows the rule if the recipient receives both a service and a cash benefit, they are counted only in the service; if the recipient receives two cash benefits, they are counted only at one, etc.