In light of socio-political discussions regarding the increase of public costs to provide for the needs of service and care for the elderly , attitudes to public and private financing of home help services for the elderly was studied. The aim of this article is to analyse how much these attitudes are due to class, gender, age, and political affiliation, as well as a personal willingness to pay higher taxes in order to finance the care of the elderly. The analysis is based on representative survey data of the Swedish population between the ages of 20 and 85. The results show a strong support for public financing, even though preferences for a mix of public and private financing also tend to dominate.
Private financing is supported by a small minority.
Though both self-interest and normative values on collective obligations to the elderly can explain the attitudes to public and private financing of home help services, the results in relation to the personal willingness to pay higher taxes in order to finance the care of the elderly, and as well political affiliation, indicate that attitudes to public and private commitments in general might have been more decisive for the standpoints of the respondents. Concerning the results in relation to class, gender and age, the age differences are the most obvious ones. The elderly people prefer public financing to a larger extent than do the middle-aged and young ones. This age difference is seen as a generation-effect related to various experiences of the welfare state and the ensuing welfare crises.