Objectives: To investigate how much monetary value people in Taiwan put on home care service, and to examine the factors that affected public assessment of the monetary value of home care service. Methods: Using the open-ended contingent valuation method, this study determined the monetary values of home care service, including willingness to pay and willingness to accept, by telephone interviews. A total of 1,083 telephone interviews targeted people aged 20 and older in Taiwan. Results: If a need for home care occurred, then the respondents were willing to pay an average of NT$ 107 per hour (N= 685) to employ a care worker to take care of their family member. The minimum compensation that the respondents wanted in order to sacrifice their free time or to quit their jobs to take care of a family member at home averaged NT$ 144 per hour (N= 624). As a care worker to care for non-relatives, the minimum wage that respondents were willing to accept averaged NT$ 166 per hour (N= 547). Conclusions: These results have the following policy implications: First, the average willingness to pay, 107 NT dollars per hour, can serve as a reference value for the upper limit of the deductible in long-term care insurance. Second, if a care allowance is built into the long-term care insurance system, then it can be set at a lower level than payment in kind. Third, 166 NT dollars can be used as the starting value for long-term care insurance benefits.
Relation:
台灣公共衛生雜誌=Taiwan Journal of Public Health 32(3)，頁251-263
