Over 40 percent of nursing care companies providing home visit and day care services in Japan are in the red, according to a survey by a government think tank.
By breakdown, 47.6 percent of home-visit care service providers are running at a loss, while 42.7 percent of day care service providers also have budget shortfalls, the Japan Finance Corp. Research Institute said.
The institute attributed the companies' financial difficulties to the government reducing nursing care benefits last April by 2.27 percent.
After the benefits were cut, 57.6 percent of companies said their earnings fell, with 16.7 recording an earnings plunge of more than 15 percent.
The survey was conducted last October, covering Japanese nursing care firms and social welfare corporations providing home-visit care or day care services, with 2,886 responding.