노인장기요양보험제도에 있어서 복지서비스계약의 법적성격 및 규제에 관한 고찰 - 이용자보호의 관점에서 -

This paper aims to inquire into the legal characteristics of the care service contract in th long-term care insurance, and then propose the regulative methods for the protection of users by considering the regulations and their problems. As a result of a study, the characteristics of the care service contract in the long-term care insurance are as follows; first, because there is a big gap between a user as a contractor and an insurer in the power of information and most of the users don't have enough ability to judge a situation, it is not easy for them to make a contract on equal terms. Second, because the contents of the contract are necessary for users' lives and survival, they has strong publicity. So such services must continually be offered in order to guarantee users' right to survive. Third, it is hard for users to decide the contents of contract in advance and difficult for them to estimate the quality of service. With the consideration of these characteristics of contract, the law related to the long-term care insurance regulates some duties that the insurer must perform for the protection of users. In other words, there is a regulation that an insurer must have following additional duties except for the beneficial duties that the adequate services should be offered; the additional duties include one to offer and explain information, one to keep user's secret, one to record․write and preserve the contents of service and one to take care of users safely. Though, of these additional duties of insurer's, one to offer and explain information and one to take care of users safely were ones that insurer had to perform in order to overcome the characteristics of contract, the legal foundations to perform and strengthen the duties were insufficient. So, I suggested proposals for them.