Editorial
ed* Nr. 02/2021 – Chapter 1
Dear Readers,
Old-age provision, health and care are fundamental core issues
in every society. These three pillars of social protection arose from the
values and standards of the actual social consensus involved and have also
shaped them at the same time. Their organisation is determined by the available
resources, and they are constantly being subjected to highly dynamic change
processes.
The countries of Europe are also facing major challenges in the
old-age provision, health and care sectors, albeit certainly with varying
degree of subtle differences. However, the initial conditions and development
paths for the three security systems can be traced back in all EU Member
States. European societies are undergoing demographic changes that are having a
major impact on all three systems: people are getting older. As a result, they
will have a longer claim to old-age
security benefits, they will need more extensive health measures and they will
also become more frequently dependent on care. Numerous other developments are
also constantly affecting the organisation of these security systems, such as
changing labour markets and unequal working lives, which in turn all have
implications for the pension systems.
Innovations in the
healthcare system are increasing the demands for services, with the potential
of becoming cost drivers that have to be absorbed. Care per se is caught in the
conflicting area between the professional and informal support. As home care or
in an inpatient facility, using benefits in kind, cash benefits or even a
combination of both – everything is subjected to the premise of adequate
financial resources.
The EC regularly publishes reports about the development of
these three security systems in its Member States. These studies enable
cautious forecasts to be made. We would
like to present three of these studies, the adequacy report, the old-age report
and the long-term care report, to you, dear readers, in the current issue of
the ED* special bulletin and, together with you, take a look at possible
developments in the three social security systems.
We
hope you enjoy reading it!
Ilka Wölfle