Abstract

Despite the tendency towards social policy convergence in European countries, we still have a different welfare state models, deviating from the classic welfare regimes typology of Gosta- Andersen. In the new sector of welfare state– long-term care (LTC), differences are significant and unexpected. One of the emerging differences in the aging European countries is the scope and method of coordination between social security and health care for older dependent people. While there is an obvious need for a holistic approach to the care of chronically ill persons (in terms of: medical services, nursing and care-taking), in practice there are difficulties. A comparative analysis carried out in ten EU countries, representing different cultures and institutional traditions in organising social security and health services (France, Germany and Austria; Sweden and Finland; Italy and Spain; UK; The Czech Republic and Poland), indicates a new and changing picture of the institutional arrangements of health and social care for older people. There are, notably, still conservative solutions, as well as marketizations and new good practices, which can be considered as an innovation.