Japan's elderly refused by many care homes due to lack of guarantors

guarantee payments to the facilities

Here is the number one issue that these facilities are concerned with and rightfully so as well if they are for profit businesses.

Can't blame them really, just because they are elderly, does not remove them from the responsibility of paying for services rendered.

However, a system must be in place to protect their rights, and more importantly the rights of the patients that they care for, and the government is more than a little late in getting around to doing something about it!

Asked what roles the guarantors should play, many facilities said they should serve as emergency contacts, be responsible for claiming the body and belongings, take care of paperwork for entering the facilities and guarantee payments to the facilities.

Yubaru, a bit of selective editing ?

You have to admit that the facilities have enough on their plates already dealing with what they are basically set up to do, i..e. house and care for elderly people.

Not all are "for profit businesses" and quite a few are closing because the profit margins are so slim.

My mother is in a care facility and I am contacted by them weekly to assent to various procedures.

There whole existence is based on care, care of the elderly. A guarantee or guardian should not be threatened with financial destruction when the aged have paid all their lives for government support. Hello Government "where's all that cash?" you took over all those years. Where did it go?

I do not say that the government should be responsible for everything, but there must be measures in place for the government to step in and help these elderly when they really need help. A government that does not care for the elderly in return should not expect the people to give their lives for the government and even the country.

Shocking, the way society treats its elderly. But, I can understand the concerns of these care homes. Money doesn't grow on trees!

The Japanese are ever so proud of their longevity.

Pity when you look closer you see stories like this.

As has been said byCricky..."Where's all that cash these people paid all these years?"

This is messed up on every level possible, so I ask the same question I have for years, do YOU want to grow old in Japan?

Or maybe it should be re-phrased do you want to die outside "living" on the streets, because THAT is where this is heading for a lot of people over the next decades!

This is what happens when the government requires, by law, that you pay them for your entire life in taxes to prepare for old age, and then only SUGGESTS that companies and care centres comply with their desire to help (on the surface) the elderly.

Hello Government "where's all that cash?" you took over all those years. Where did it go?

Government: We spent it long ago on feathering the nests of the construction and farming lobbies. Now shut up and die with the least amount of fuss possible.

Isn't it funny when Japan gave billions of yen to other countries which will be taken care of by dictators and corrupt politicians there, while they can't provide a government sponsored nursing home for elder Japanese nationals that will bypass these money greedy guarantorship system and the only requirement would be being an elder Japanese citizen.

Asked what roles the guarantors should play, many facilities said they should serve as emergency contacts, be responsible for claiming the body and belongings, take care of paperwork for entering the facilities and guarantee payments to the facilities.

This normally be called next of kin. Any bills should be picked up by the persons estate. Not ask the next of kin to guarantee payments. Any thing else is fine, funeral, body collection,paperwork, but guaranteeing payments to a facilities, I think its between the client/government( if they can't afford care) and the care home.

Forcing the next of kin to pay, seems like passing debt down to the next generation, when the estate should pick up the costs, and if they have no state when they die, then they should be classed as bankrupt, or the government act as guarantor and pay the cost. Full Stop!.

The gov, ask families to take care of their families, but then the gov needs them to go toward and asks them to put mum and dad in a care home, so they can go out to work pay tax etc etc, and then when mum and dad pass on, they expect them to shoulder all the costs of a nursing home. Not to mention that the family being forced to shoulder these costs and debts may have their own children to pay for too.

Looks like they're squeezed between paying for mum and dads care,

the care of their own children, and squeezed by the government forces them out to work.

It might actually pay NOT TO WORK.

Now you fully understand Japan. It's not about the service, it's all about the money. I cannot count the amount of times I have received a bill for absolutely nothing. Japanese firms are very good at taking your money, but do not provide any service for it. And, no doubt, these people have been paying into the rip-off pension system for 30-40 years and get bugger all for it. As much as there are many things I like about Japan, paying money for nothing is one of the things I totally despise! You really have to feel sorry for these oldies. They have worked their butts off for Japan-Inc. over the last 40 years and all they get is a kick in the nuts for it!

Oh civitas, unitl Thather came along in the UK, and over here they said we are all the same, well there has been a lot of capitalism

I think this an exaggeration, its standard policy to have a guarantor, any company would be insane not to require one. Age is not a ticket to instant entitlement like some folks here think it should be

I wonder why no private business has stepped in to provide the service. They could charge elderly people an upfront deposit in exchange for a guarantee that the company will finalise their affairs once they die, a bit like an insurance policy. It sounds like a no-brainer, so I can only assume there is some government red-tape preventing this.

‚I think this an exaggeration, its standard policy to have a guarantor, any company would be insane not to require one. Age is not a ticket to instant entitlement like some folks here think it should be‘

Mr Black, is this company or govt. thingking?

So now its a rental world?

M3M3M3 - I wonder why no private business has stepped in to provide the service. 

There are many companies who have stepped up to fill this void with aged care both at home and in care facilities. However, according to a report from a year ago, aged care companies are the most likely companies to go broke and most do within 3 months. As a result, few people are investing in these companies and/or creating them. This is partly because of the ridiculous fees they charge and also because the average elderly person has no money, despite paying into the pension fund for 30-40 years. It is also because the government won't subsidise the costs of private companies providing aged care. - As I keep saying, in Japan, you pay a lot of money and get no service for it. - Japan has one of the highest premiums of health insurance and pension in the world, but the health insurance only covers minimal care and the pension only covers basic living costs. Don't get sick or grow old in Japan. Gawd help you if you do both!

Cricky, check out amakudari. Anyway, this directly related to family breakdown. Money ain’t all. Pity.

I would not be surprised if Euthanasia becomes encouraged at some point, maybe not on the scale depicted in the 70's TV Series Logan's Run, but more leaning towards doing your Family good and being Socially responsible by departing this World without fuss...

@mmwk - the J. Govt will probably extend that to the likes of the unemployed Gaijin such as myself who have found themselves no longer of use to anyone. Guess it's better than starving to death, so I'd personally welcome it ... sooner than later please.