Caring by contract: care arrangements for older people

Recent years have seen a wide and increasing diffusion of care arrangements for older people. Sometimes these agreements are concluded directly by the senior, but on many occasions they are finalised by the dependent’s family for his or her benefit. Some arrangements are made between older people and other private individuals acting in a personal capacity; more often, the counterpart is a professional, as in the case of home health aide contracts, long-term continuing care contracts with a retirement home or long-term care insurances. Usually the reciprocal performances of the contracting parties are at least presumed to be equivalent in value, but at times the law requires, for the validity of the agreement itself, that the parties do not have a clear knowledge of the advantages and losses deriving from the care contract. The paper will begin by focusing on agreements converting the home into long term care providing a comparison between civil law countries (namely Italy, France and Spain) and common law countries (namely the United Kingdom and the United States). I will then offer some general comments on common features and general issues related to these arrangements and conclude with some remarks aiming to overcome a number of prejudices about caring by contract.