Care & Rights of the Elderly & Disabled in the EC

This research paper discusses the current status in the European Community (EC) of provision for the care of the elderly and the disabled and the rights of persons who fall into such categories. Most of the nations of Western Europe provide extensive protection for the elderly and, to a lesser extent, the disabled, but a combination of fiscal, economic and demographic pressures render them unable to maintain, let alone expand, those benefits just as the aging of their populations is rendering a significant number of the elderly and the disabled more vulnerable. As a result, since the early 1980s a major political battle has been developing over the size and terms of future entitlement programs for these groups and various alternatives are being considered for shifting some of the financial burdens involved to local government, the private sector and/or to the individuals affected by central government funding constraints and cutbacks. The nature of these problems varies considerably by country, but all the nations in the EC are experiencing difficulties in protecting adequately the elderly and the disabled.

Challenges Facing Welfare States in the EC

Expansion of the Welfare State. During the prosperous post-war decades of the 1960s and early 1970s, the social democracies of Western Europe made substantial progress toward their goal of establishing an extensive system of social security for thei

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ns and contractors who are given tax breaks. In 1990, 465,675 of such units were constructed in Britain, three fourths of which were provided by local authorities. The Scandinavian countries have gone in for this type of effort on a major scale. The Swedish Social Services Act of 1982 stresses "respect for the right of people to make their own decisions and for individual integrity." According to OECD, Denmark has stopped the construction of all nursing homes and "initiated a programme of converting [many of] the existing homes into individual apartments or other specialized facilities," such as convalescent homes. The Scandinavian and Benelux countries have been in the forefront of the movement to provide more comprehensive home health care and community services for the elderly. A 1994 publication by the Council of Europe in 1994 said that "out-patient care for the elderly is best in Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden" and less comprehensive in the poorer countries of southern Europe and Ireland. In 1992, Spain has announced the initiation of a National Elder-Care Plan and the Irish propose to do the same. The French and British home health care programs have come in for their share of criticism. OECD says that in France,
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Western Europe, Pynoos Liebig, House Lords, West German, Danish Constitution, Stephen Dorrell, According Tinker, Demographic Factors, Health Organization, Economic Commission, disabled persons, elderly people, care elderly, national health, long-term care, health care, social security, frail elders, declaration rights, elderly disabled, jon pynoos phoebe, home health care, international handbook services, frail elders international, elders international policies,
Approximate Word count = 6388
Approximate Pages = 26 (250 words per page)

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