隨著老人人口急遽攀升，長期照護議題已被視為臺灣公共政策在21世紀不可避免的重大挑戰。對照多數已發展國家將「在地老化」（Aging in Place）訂為長期照護政策之方向，積極發展各項支持性服務以協助老人盡可能延長住在社區中的時間，但我國的支持性服務呈現嚴重缺乏的窘境。未來如何面對人口老化所導致的長期照護龐大需求，本文以德國、日本及加拿大的長期照護政策發展經驗為基礎，檢視其財務、服務的可近性及組織架構，進而已我國長期照護政策之未來方向提出具體建言。

In the 21st century, long-term care has presented serious challenges to public policy as the elderly population in Taiwan rapidly increase. Many deve3loped countries have used “Aging in Place” as the guiding principle for devising elderly care policy. The focus is to develop supportive services locally with the intention of helping the elderly stay in the local community for as long as possible. Unlike more developed countries, supportive services to help the elderly staying at home are seriously lacking in Taiwan. This paper analyzes the experiences of Germany, Japan and Canada with respect to issues of financing, availability of services and the organization of long-term care. A thorough understanding of the relative merits of each of these approaches provides insight into how they can be adapted to the unique characteristic of Taiwan to make substantial improvements in the long-term case system.