Resumen:
El objetivo del presente trabajo es la estimación del coste directo que ha originado la aplicación de la ley de dependencia en Andalucía durante 2011, desagregando las cantidades que aporta el Estado, la comunidad autónoma y el beneficiario mediante el régimen de copago o el de reducción de las prestaciones económicas.
Se ha estimado la distribución de renta de los dependientes conforme a una adaptación del Baremo de Valoración a los datos de la Encuesta de Discapacidad, Autonomía personal y situaciones de Dependencia 2008 del INE. Los datos de dependencia han sido tomados del Servicio de información del Sistema para la Autonomía y Atención a la Dependencia. Como principal resultado se ha cuantificado el coste directo de la aplicación de la ley en Andalucía, en 1.424 millones de euros durante 2011, y la aportación del beneficiario en un 14,20 %.
Abstract:
Introduction: The Spanish Law No. 39/2006 of 14 December, on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care of Dependent Persons, means the legal regulation of a new social policy, born as an essential element of the Welfare State on a macroeconomic scenario of continued growth in Spain. The Law, among other principles, establishes the universality, accessibility, and equity of the dependents access to the services and economic benefits provided by the Law, taking into account the personal economic capacity as the main criteria for the participation of the beneficiary in its funding. Due to its social, qualitative and quantitative impact, the estimation of the public and private dependency policy costs should be one of the main topics of interest to researchers and managers. However, there is currently not enough scientific production concerning the copayment in dependency.
Aim: The aim of this paper is to estimate the direct cost resulting from the System for Autonomy and Care for Dependency in Andalusia in 2011, analyzing separately the amount provided by the state, the amount provided by the autonomous region and the amount provided by the beneficiary through the regime of copayment or through the reduction in benefits.
Methodology: The dependent’s income distribution has been estimated according to an adaptation of the evaluation scale (Baremo de Valoración) to the data of the National Statistics Institute (INE) Disability, Personal Autonomy and Dependency Survey 2008 (EDAD2008). The data about dependency have been taken from the Information Service of the System for Autonomy and Care for Dependency (SISAAD). In this way, a scenario of use of services and their costs has been created in Andalusia in 2011.
Results: The direct cost of dependency services provided in Andalusia has been estimated in €1.424 billion in 2011, and the amount provided by the beneficiary in 14.20 % of the total cost.The amount provided by the autonomous region of Andalusia (55.79 %) is more than €365 million higher than the amount provided by the state (30.01 %), mainly due to its obligation of covering the lowest contribution of the beneficiaries in around 20 % the costs of the SAAD, in comparison with the initial hypothesis of distribution of costs in 1/3 each public administration and the beneficiary (suggested before passing the law). The home care service (professional care by non-medical personal) and the economic benefit for family care are 2/3 of the total cost, although the beneficiary only provides 5 % of the benefit and service costs. On the other hand, the beneficiary highly contributes to the day/night center (half stay at the center) and the institutional care (full stay at the center), with a copayment system which directly taxes the beneficiary incomes, contributing in around 1/3 of its cost. Conclusions: There is a serious lack of information which makes difficult to calculate the cost of services and benefits, and it is probably influencing the homogeneous implementation and development of the long-term care law in Spain. Last reforms have reduced the intensity of the home care and the maximum amounts of the economic benefits for family care, which may have represented an important budget saving for the autonomous region. The estimation of dependents’ income for this paper reveals that in Andalusia, and in general in the whole state, most dependents have incomes lower than the Public Indicator of Multiple Effect Incomes (IPREM), which makes it extremely difficult to increase their cooperation to keep the system without risking the principle of universality of the law. Classification-JEL: R1 Keywords: Ley de dependencia, Discapacidad, Composición del gasto público, Copago, Long-term care law, Disability, Public expenditure, Copayment Pages: 101-134 Volume: 3 Year: 2014 File-URL: http://www.revistaestudiosregionales.com/documentos/articulos/pdf-articulo-2451.pdf File-Format: Application/pdf Handle: RePEc:rer:articu:v:3:y:2014:p:101-134