Bedridden Elderly Worth More Than Those With Dementia in Japan 認知症と寝たきり、どっちがいい？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

A TV program I watched a few weeks ago showed a couple, a husband and a wife in their 90s, both suffering from dementia, expelled from one facility to another every one to three months. The reason is that their level of nursing care requirements, designated by the authorities, is relatively low, i.e., Level 2 on a scale from 1 to 5, because they are physically okay. In Japan, elderly who are physically fine, but mentally not (such as the couple) are considered to need less care requirements, tend to be categorized as a lower care requirements level and as a result get less care benefits even though they actually need more help, i.e., often going missing and caregivers having to find them even if it's midnight. Care homes, mostly privately run, don't want to accept such elderly people because of less profitability. It's easy to understand why physically fine elderly with dementia, such as the couple, aren't so popular.

The amount of care benefits for each level is shown below. Level 5 is almost completely bedridden, getting more than two times greater than the amount Level 1 does.

Care benefits in Japan (USD1 = JPY114)
Level 1:     USD 1,464
Level 2:     USD 1,721
Level 3:     USD 2,362
Level 4:     USD 2,702
Level 5:     USD 3,164 (almost completely bedridden)

Given my and my husbands ages, I will likely to live alone for about ten years after he dies. What will happen to me? Will I be expelled from a care home like the couple?

This TV program made me realize that when thinking about moving to a new place in 15 to 20 years, I have to take account into not only whether the new place is comfortable to live in or the area is livable, but also its liquidity so that when I no longer can live by myself, I can sell the house and move into a nice care home which doesn't kick me out.

So, the new house/condo is gonna be expensive. There is another reason for it. I want to live in Kyoto or Nara, i.e., Japan's two former capitals. Just imagining walking every morning in such beautiful areas makes me happy. The thing is, however, that property prices in some areas of Kyoto/Nara are as high as, or higher than, those in central Tokyo because houses and buildings there are subject to stringent construction regulations, such as height or color conditions. But another TV program did a good thing to me, giving information about southern Kyoto, which seemed a very nice place to live! I don't want to give you the name of the city because I'm a mean person (ha ha), but it has a park, library, river, mall, almost everything for those who want to enjoy both city and country life.

I'm not sure if this place will solve my problem of finding a nice condo/house with liquidity, but I'm definitely going to visit the city this December to see what it's like and let you know my findings.

By the way, what is your country's nursing system like? Is it common that children take care of their parents or do people usually find their last places to live, i.e., care homes, themselves and live the rest of their lives there?

家を買うのは大きな決断だ。私の場合、今は持ち家に住んでいるが、決めたのは旦那で、買った理由も、東京にしか仕事がない→住む場所が必要→借りるより買った方が安い、だけに過ぎない。

でも今、次の家を買うことを考えている！20年後ぐらいだけどね。京都か奈良。毎朝、寺社のまわりをウォーキングしている自分を想像するだけで気分が上がる！ ただ問題が一つ。最後に「いい」介護施設に入るために、売れる物件じゃないないとだめなんです。

というのもこの前見たNHKスペシャルで、90代の認知症夫婦がたらいまわしにされているのを見ちゃったんです。認知症って手がかかるのに要介護度が低いから給付額が少ないんですって。つまりお荷物。施設からすると要介護度が高くて（給付額が多くて）手のかからない寝たきりが一番人気とのこと。

私は最後十年くらいは一人だから、次に住むのは単に住み心地だけでなく流動性も考えないと。それに京都とか奈良って色々制限があって中心部の不動産価格がバカ高いのです。それやこれやでこれまでいい場所が見つからなかったんですが、この前、NHKの別の番組でいい所を見つけました。近くに、公園、川、図書館、モールありの、都会と田舎の両方を満喫できるいい場所です。具体名は言いません（笑）。ただ、12月に行くのでまた報告します。

海外の介護制度ってどうなってるんですかね。子供が看るのが当たり前？それとも自分で終の棲家を決めるのが当然という感じ？どっちなんでしょう。知りたいです。