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All members of the baby boomer generation will turn 75 or older this year. While the demand for care services will only increase steadily in the future, services providers of home-visit care are going out of business one after another.
Efforts must be made to improve the treatment of caregivers and secure human resources to create a society in which everyone will be able to receive the support they need and live on their own.
According to a private credit research company, the number of home-visit care providers that went bankrupt or were forced to close in 2024 reached a record high of 529.
What was noticeable was the business closures in rural areas. It is believed that it was difficult to secure caregivers due to depopulation. In addition, it is not uncommon for caregivers to drive tens of kilometers a day for home visits, so fuel costs and other expenses put pressure on businesses.
Furthermore, the government’s decision last year to lower the fees for home-visit care services has exacerbated the worsened business situation.
While the overall fees for care services were increased by 1.59% in order to improve the treatment of caregivers, the fees for services such as bathing assistance provided in home-visit care services were reduced. This was done because the businesses in urban areas, where there are many clients, were stable.
The business environment is completely different between urban and rural areas. The decision to reduce the fees without taking this circumstance into account was obviously a mistake.
One idea to support providers in rural areas would be to subsidize the fuel costs of the vehicles used by caregivers. It will also be essential to take measures regarding the system, such as bringing forward the revision of nursing care fees, which is scheduled for 2027, and reviewing the fees for home-visit care.
The average monthly salary of caregivers is about ¥300,000, which is ¥60,000 lower than the average for workers in all industries. Nursing care workplaces involve a lot of physical work and responsibility. It is only natural that people will avoid such jobs if the remuneration and other conditions are poor.
The government needs to steadily improve the treatment of caregivers, rather than shunning away from the discussion of raising premiums of the public nursing care program and clients’ out-of-pocket payments.
It would be more meaningful to spend tax money for care services that support elderly people, instead of spending hundreds of billions of yen every year to make high school education free, even for high-income families. The ruling and opposition parties should discuss measures based on people’s actual lives, rather than polices aimed at appealing to voters for elections.
From this month, the government has allowed foreign technical interns and those with the status of specified skills workers to work in the home-visit care service, provided they have at least one year’s experience working in a care facility.
It is desirable that Japanese caregivers accompany foreign caregivers for the time being, to help them improve their skills. It is also important that they learn the Japanese language.
As long as care providers view foreign workers as “cheap labor,” they will not be able to secure human resources. Improving the treatment of foreign workers in the care industry is also an important issue.
