In Japan you can go to the doctor whenever you need to without worrying about the cost. When I came to Japan it took me several years to become accustomed to this. For several years before I came to Japan I was under insured. My insurance was as comprehensive as American insurance policies get. However in order to make it affordable I had a very high deductible. This meant that I always had to pay out of pocket and I developed the habit of self rationing health care. Often I would suffer though things like allergies or sinus infections without going to the doctor. After coming to Japan gradually I realized that I do not have to do this. The co-payment for a doctor's visit is less than $10 and for a prescription it is rarely more than $10. Now I go to the doctor when symptoms first appear. I suffer less and almost never miss work.
My medical insurance in the states cost $180 a month for just me and never paid out a cent. The only time the company paid out was when I was hit by a car while riding my bicycle, and even then, they recovered what they paid when I settled with the motorist's auto insurance. But that did not stop them from rationing my care. They would not pay for all the physical therapy my doctor prescribed, so I was not able to receive all of it.
In Japan we don't have this kind of problem. There is no rationing, there are no deductibles, and everything is covered. You don't have to wait in line for an appointment or get a referral for a specialist. Your doctor does not have to get authorization from an insurance company to treat you. If you want a second opinion you just go get one as my wife did when she needed one. And the cost? My wife and I pay about $240 a month for the two of us and this will not increase when we have children. It will change if our income changes but then we will be able to afford it. I'm very happy with this system.
Michael Rector
Nagoya, Japan
California
Showing posts with label health care japan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care japan. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Maternity stay in U.S. reimbursed
Although I live in Japan with my Japanese husband, I gave birth to my first child in the United States (Montana) and had some intervention. I had saved all of my hospital receipts and after returning to Japan, I was able to submit all of the bills (approximately $3200) to the Japanese Health Care system. In Japan, at that time, all births were covered up to 300,000 yen ($3000). We only had to pay out of pocket about $200. It would have cost more had I stayed in the hospital with my new baby for more than one night. In Japan, it is common for new mothers and babies to stay one week. Depending on the hospital, the price can vary, but in general, the cost runs around the reimbursement amount of 300,000 yen. I am not sure what amount American insurance covers in childbirth, but I felt we were pretty lucky to get the $3000 back!
Brooke
Yamaki, Japan
Minnesota
Brooke
Yamaki, Japan
Minnesota
It's satisfactory and affordable
The public citizens' health insurance offered to Japanese citizens is what I/we use. It's satisfactory and affordable.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
It isn't perfect, but I recommend the Japanese system of health care
I have lived in Japan for nearly 20 years and have enjoyed the health system that they have for most people here. When I first started, it had a 10% deductible and that began changing about 10 years ago. It was increased to 20% and then to 30% and it has remained at this point for at least 5 years. As long it doesn't go above this, it should be OK. I believe that my Japanese Mother and Father-in-law have a 10% deductible.
This system works for most medical attention, including optometry as well as dentistry. It does not cover the cost of making glasses, and I have no experiences with dentures... However, it covers most medication that I have had to utilize.
Also something interesting is that some cities subsidize medication as well as doctor visits for children under certain ages. I know my daughter received certain vaccinations for free by the city of Sapporo. Also there are free checkups for children in Elementary schools which are contracted out to a physician who's practice is located near the school.
Hospitalization is also covered. I have had a couple of instances in which I needed tests to be run and was hospitalized. One time in a room with six other patients and another time in a private room. The private rooms in 2000 were only 8,000 yen a day (a little more than $80). Less than the price of a hotel room, so I opted for the private room rather than the six patient room. I do not know what the price was for that room, but the difference was so small than I could not fathom staying in the group room.
The good (or bad side) depending on how you look at it, is that here in Japan people go to many different doctors, perhaps a different one each time. I have always tried to pick my doctors and stay with them, however, many people do not do this. Up to now, this has probably allowed people to get multiple prescriptions for the same ailment unnecessarily. However, with the new electronic medical record system which will be mandatory soon here in Japan, this may be more easily controlled.
For the most part, I can say that the Japanese medical system has been very good. I hear other ex-pats here who claim that this is a very bad place to receive medical treatment. I agree that the Hygiene at some hospitals here in Japan is severely lacking. However, if one takes the time to carefully pick their hospitals and get referrals from medical care workers that they trust, then this system is quite a good one. I highly recommend the Japanese Medical System as long as it is properly managed "by the people, for the people".
I am not sure if this was of any help as I and my family are healthy for the most part, but I do endorse the Japanese model.
If you have specific questions, feel free to contact me.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Brian Dishman
Japan
This system works for most medical attention, including optometry as well as dentistry. It does not cover the cost of making glasses, and I have no experiences with dentures... However, it covers most medication that I have had to utilize.
Also something interesting is that some cities subsidize medication as well as doctor visits for children under certain ages. I know my daughter received certain vaccinations for free by the city of Sapporo. Also there are free checkups for children in Elementary schools which are contracted out to a physician who's practice is located near the school.
Hospitalization is also covered. I have had a couple of instances in which I needed tests to be run and was hospitalized. One time in a room with six other patients and another time in a private room. The private rooms in 2000 were only 8,000 yen a day (a little more than $80). Less than the price of a hotel room, so I opted for the private room rather than the six patient room. I do not know what the price was for that room, but the difference was so small than I could not fathom staying in the group room.
The good (or bad side) depending on how you look at it, is that here in Japan people go to many different doctors, perhaps a different one each time. I have always tried to pick my doctors and stay with them, however, many people do not do this. Up to now, this has probably allowed people to get multiple prescriptions for the same ailment unnecessarily. However, with the new electronic medical record system which will be mandatory soon here in Japan, this may be more easily controlled.
For the most part, I can say that the Japanese medical system has been very good. I hear other ex-pats here who claim that this is a very bad place to receive medical treatment. I agree that the Hygiene at some hospitals here in Japan is severely lacking. However, if one takes the time to carefully pick their hospitals and get referrals from medical care workers that they trust, then this system is quite a good one. I highly recommend the Japanese Medical System as long as it is properly managed "by the people, for the people".
I am not sure if this was of any help as I and my family are healthy for the most part, but I do endorse the Japanese model.
If you have specific questions, feel free to contact me.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Brian Dishman
Japan
Thursday, March 12, 2009
The French system is better than the Japanese
Friends --
This is painful, but I feel I should contribute to the discussion of the health-care issue. My story is that of the sudden and unexpected death of my late wife, Hatsue, last May 5th.
My wife was of Japanese origin, but she had lived in the US for some 36 years, was an American citizen, and a proud and active Democrat.
We retired to Chiba city in mid-2006, and built a new home on a plot of family land. The objective was to take care of Hatsue's elderly mother, whom she felt she had neglected by staying so long abroad. She wrote in the wet concrete outside the front door, "For my mother---with love."
I should note that Hatsue was an independent-minded person who paid close attention to her health. She had a trim figure, ate well, and exercised.
We are only a few hundred meters from the Chiba Medical Center, formerly a "national" hospital that has been privatized. It is a major facility, with all the usual services.
My wife complained to an internist in June of 2007 of stomach pains. She was given an endoscopy, which proved negative. Later in the year, she complained of violent shoulder pain. She was given scans of her neck and shoulders, all of which were negative. She was transferred to a female psychologist, on the theory that the stress of moving back to a by now unfamiliar environment and building a house had caused stress that was responsible for her pain. I accepted this diagnosis, because there had indeed been a great deal of stress.
Hatsue received permission to go to a "pain clinic," where she received shots of what must have been very powerful palliatives. She was finishing a month's series of these shots and felt that she had made enough progress that she was about to schedule "rehabilitation," when she collapsed in late April.
We took here to the Medical Center, where we were told that she could not be hospitalized because of a lack of beds. I insisted on a blood test, and the results--a total lack of sodium in her system was one-- led to her hospitalization on a Sunday afternoon. Sh was given extensive tests and we were informed on Tuesday that she metastasized cancer in "at least" eight organs, including a large growth in her brain, and we were shown the x-ray pictures. She was placed on morphine (we had always agreed between us that we would not authorize desperate measures if our partner was to be in just this sort of situation).
Hatsue passed away peacefully the next Monday (Children's Day), seven days after entering the hospital. The death certificate read "lung cancer."
The cancer specialist at the Medical Center told us that a simple chest x-ray would have revealed the cancer at any point in the previous year.
I hasten to say, however, that Hatsue never evinced any of the symptoms of lung cancer. She was able to move around more or less normally, walking to her pain clinic visits for a round trip of two kilometers even during her final month.
I have consulted with American specialists and talked to academic experts on Japanese health care to try to make sense of this tragedy. The Americans refuse to speculate on failures in diagnosis, but point out that Hatsue probably had the most vicious form of cancer: small cell. If you Google "small cell cancer," you will see that the only suggestion is to try to get yourself into a trial of some new treatment. The academic experts on Japanese medicine defend the Japanese health-care system as making only the average number of diagnostic errors and note that there are no limits to test ordering that restrict Japanese physicians from testing broadly.
But those of us who live in Japan know that there are serious problems with the Japanese health-care system. I am told that a Japanese doctor see more than 6000 patients each year on average, versus an average for an American doctor of just over 2000. I
f you have gone to a Japanese doctor, you know what this means. You are granted no more than two or three minutes with an obviously impatient physician who gives you an extremely compressed "bottom line" diagnosis and treatment in a peremptory tone that brooks no questions. The ignorant patient is granted no role in his or her own health-care. To use the famous analogy, the patient is presumed to be too dumb to help to determine if the hoof beats are those of a horse or a zebra.
I am told there is no system for ongoing education for medical professionals in Japan, and that there are no specialty groups (the "academies" and the "boards" in America) that set standards and qualifications for practice in specialized fields.
This overloading of the average Japanese doctor must trace back to restrictions on entry that probably mirror the cartel-like practices that infect so many other professions in Japan.
My own conclusion after some forty years of involvement with the Japanese health-care industry is that the Japanese people owe their high longevity figures to a diet that is steadily being corrupted by American (or is it Western?) influences and to the exercise that even middle class persons get by use of the public transportation system, with its walks to the stations and the stairs that they must climb and descend on a daily basis. (The latter, of course, are being replaced by elevators and escalators.)
I understand that the French system is much more promising as a source for ideas for American health-care reform than the Japanese. The French exercise a great deal of control over medical education, and I am told that unless their model is followed, there is not much hope for American success.
Rod Armstrong
Japan
Virginia
This is painful, but I feel I should contribute to the discussion of the health-care issue. My story is that of the sudden and unexpected death of my late wife, Hatsue, last May 5th.
My wife was of Japanese origin, but she had lived in the US for some 36 years, was an American citizen, and a proud and active Democrat.
We retired to Chiba city in mid-2006, and built a new home on a plot of family land. The objective was to take care of Hatsue's elderly mother, whom she felt she had neglected by staying so long abroad. She wrote in the wet concrete outside the front door, "For my mother---with love."
I should note that Hatsue was an independent-minded person who paid close attention to her health. She had a trim figure, ate well, and exercised.
We are only a few hundred meters from the Chiba Medical Center, formerly a "national" hospital that has been privatized. It is a major facility, with all the usual services.
My wife complained to an internist in June of 2007 of stomach pains. She was given an endoscopy, which proved negative. Later in the year, she complained of violent shoulder pain. She was given scans of her neck and shoulders, all of which were negative. She was transferred to a female psychologist, on the theory that the stress of moving back to a by now unfamiliar environment and building a house had caused stress that was responsible for her pain. I accepted this diagnosis, because there had indeed been a great deal of stress.
Hatsue received permission to go to a "pain clinic," where she received shots of what must have been very powerful palliatives. She was finishing a month's series of these shots and felt that she had made enough progress that she was about to schedule "rehabilitation," when she collapsed in late April.
We took here to the Medical Center, where we were told that she could not be hospitalized because of a lack of beds. I insisted on a blood test, and the results--a total lack of sodium in her system was one-- led to her hospitalization on a Sunday afternoon. Sh was given extensive tests and we were informed on Tuesday that she metastasized cancer in "at least" eight organs, including a large growth in her brain, and we were shown the x-ray pictures. She was placed on morphine (we had always agreed between us that we would not authorize desperate measures if our partner was to be in just this sort of situation).
Hatsue passed away peacefully the next Monday (Children's Day), seven days after entering the hospital. The death certificate read "lung cancer."
The cancer specialist at the Medical Center told us that a simple chest x-ray would have revealed the cancer at any point in the previous year.
I hasten to say, however, that Hatsue never evinced any of the symptoms of lung cancer. She was able to move around more or less normally, walking to her pain clinic visits for a round trip of two kilometers even during her final month.
I have consulted with American specialists and talked to academic experts on Japanese health care to try to make sense of this tragedy. The Americans refuse to speculate on failures in diagnosis, but point out that Hatsue probably had the most vicious form of cancer: small cell. If you Google "small cell cancer," you will see that the only suggestion is to try to get yourself into a trial of some new treatment. The academic experts on Japanese medicine defend the Japanese health-care system as making only the average number of diagnostic errors and note that there are no limits to test ordering that restrict Japanese physicians from testing broadly.
But those of us who live in Japan know that there are serious problems with the Japanese health-care system. I am told that a Japanese doctor see more than 6000 patients each year on average, versus an average for an American doctor of just over 2000. I
f you have gone to a Japanese doctor, you know what this means. You are granted no more than two or three minutes with an obviously impatient physician who gives you an extremely compressed "bottom line" diagnosis and treatment in a peremptory tone that brooks no questions. The ignorant patient is granted no role in his or her own health-care. To use the famous analogy, the patient is presumed to be too dumb to help to determine if the hoof beats are those of a horse or a zebra.
I am told there is no system for ongoing education for medical professionals in Japan, and that there are no specialty groups (the "academies" and the "boards" in America) that set standards and qualifications for practice in specialized fields.
This overloading of the average Japanese doctor must trace back to restrictions on entry that probably mirror the cartel-like practices that infect so many other professions in Japan.
My own conclusion after some forty years of involvement with the Japanese health-care industry is that the Japanese people owe their high longevity figures to a diet that is steadily being corrupted by American (or is it Western?) influences and to the exercise that even middle class persons get by use of the public transportation system, with its walks to the stations and the stairs that they must climb and descend on a daily basis. (The latter, of course, are being replaced by elevators and escalators.)
I understand that the French system is much more promising as a source for ideas for American health-care reform than the Japanese. The French exercise a great deal of control over medical education, and I am told that unless their model is followed, there is not much hope for American success.
Rod Armstrong
Japan
Virginia
I appreciate the psychological security of being covered
When I enrolled in Japan's National Health Insurance program, I used to protest and complain that I had to pay for all of the people who went to the doctor for every little ailment or just hung out at hospitals to see their friends and because they had nothing better to do. However, I realized that in whatever circumstance I'm in - illness, accident, emergency - I am covered for medical treatment. Of course, the coverage is basic, but it covers dental and that really helps. I can go about my life not worrying about how I will be able to pay for medical treatment because the Japanese government will take care of most of my basic needs.
I switched to shiokyosai insurance for educators, but I now really appreciate the psychological security of being covered.
Edwin Aloiau (orginally from Honolulu, Hawaii)
Tokyo, Japan
I switched to shiokyosai insurance for educators, but I now really appreciate the psychological security of being covered.
Edwin Aloiau (orginally from Honolulu, Hawaii)
Tokyo, Japan
Our health has improved since being in Japan
My family of 5 live in Japan. We have coverage from the US. I never joined the national health care because I felt that we were covered under our own insurance from the US and that seemed suitable at the time.
However, we have been to the hospital twice since living here. I was bitten by an animal shelter dog at a fundraiser once. The jagged bite mark on my leg was bleeding and the nurse suggested I go to the hospital immediately for injection and a check up. I checked in at the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroo and waited 45 mins to see a doctor. I saw the doctor first, not a nurse, or technician or aid but the Doctor. He cleaned my wound, inspected it, applied antibiotic ointment and dressed it. I received a dose of antibiotic and a prescription for 3 pills a day for 10 days. The bill for the hospital was 7000 yen and the prescription was some similarly small amount.
My second trip to the same hospital was when my son fell 10 ft to the ground while playing on the playground. He landed on his hip and was shaking and cold and couldn't walk. We feared a fracture on the hip and took him to the hospital. They informed us that since we didn't have an appointment we couldn't be seen. We asked again, nicely, and they agreed to see us after the other patients had been seen. We anticipated a long wait. My son, however, was called back for a consult with the doctor in 30 short minutes. He did a check up and put Isaac through a full range of motion. He sent us for xrays. Xrays indicated that my son had not broken any bones. He applied an adhesive medicated bandage to my son's hip area to keep the pain from bruising down. He sent us home with a prescription for medicated bandages which I was able to fill for 1500 yen. The entire visit took about 1 hour and cost me 15,000 yen. ($140 USD)
Service has always been wonderful and polite. I feel good when I visit the doctors here. My husband and I have received medication for blood sugar and anxiety. He paid an equivalent of $45 for glucophage and I have paid the equivalent of $28 for lorazapam for anxiety spells. This is without any aid from my US insurance drug plan. This is just the cost of medication over the counter from the doctor's prescription. I was shocked the first time I ever had to have medicines here. Without any drug plan at all medication costs here are so much lower than the US. I didn't offer any national health card to cover the medicines. I assume it's because the greediness of pharmaceutical corporations isn't as rampant in Japan as it is in the US. Affordable medicines are the norm.
Since we have lived here we have enjoyed the walking and trains and bike riding. We have enjoyed the abundant healthy vegetables. We have each lost 60 lbs and no longer require medications for blood sugar or anxiety.
Our health has improved greatly since being in Japan and the times we've needed help with our healthcare it has been a pleasurable and thrifty experience.
We return to the US in June. I am more than a bit afraid to move back to the US. I fear the slovenly, sedate, lazy lifestyle that is so common in the US. And the strain that kind of lifestyle puts on the entire system in the US. There are no accessible bike lanes in many cities in the US. The people in their gas guzzling vehicles feel they own the road and would never deign to ride their bike to the grocery when they can drive the 2 miles from home to the store instead.
Americans have a lot to learn from other parts of the world with regard to health care and every other aspect of their daily living. But that's a whole other rant you didn't ask for.
W - in Tokyo
However, we have been to the hospital twice since living here. I was bitten by an animal shelter dog at a fundraiser once. The jagged bite mark on my leg was bleeding and the nurse suggested I go to the hospital immediately for injection and a check up. I checked in at the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroo and waited 45 mins to see a doctor. I saw the doctor first, not a nurse, or technician or aid but the Doctor. He cleaned my wound, inspected it, applied antibiotic ointment and dressed it. I received a dose of antibiotic and a prescription for 3 pills a day for 10 days. The bill for the hospital was 7000 yen and the prescription was some similarly small amount.
My second trip to the same hospital was when my son fell 10 ft to the ground while playing on the playground. He landed on his hip and was shaking and cold and couldn't walk. We feared a fracture on the hip and took him to the hospital. They informed us that since we didn't have an appointment we couldn't be seen. We asked again, nicely, and they agreed to see us after the other patients had been seen. We anticipated a long wait. My son, however, was called back for a consult with the doctor in 30 short minutes. He did a check up and put Isaac through a full range of motion. He sent us for xrays. Xrays indicated that my son had not broken any bones. He applied an adhesive medicated bandage to my son's hip area to keep the pain from bruising down. He sent us home with a prescription for medicated bandages which I was able to fill for 1500 yen. The entire visit took about 1 hour and cost me 15,000 yen. ($140 USD)
Service has always been wonderful and polite. I feel good when I visit the doctors here. My husband and I have received medication for blood sugar and anxiety. He paid an equivalent of $45 for glucophage and I have paid the equivalent of $28 for lorazapam for anxiety spells. This is without any aid from my US insurance drug plan. This is just the cost of medication over the counter from the doctor's prescription. I was shocked the first time I ever had to have medicines here. Without any drug plan at all medication costs here are so much lower than the US. I didn't offer any national health card to cover the medicines. I assume it's because the greediness of pharmaceutical corporations isn't as rampant in Japan as it is in the US. Affordable medicines are the norm.
Since we have lived here we have enjoyed the walking and trains and bike riding. We have enjoyed the abundant healthy vegetables. We have each lost 60 lbs and no longer require medications for blood sugar or anxiety.
Our health has improved greatly since being in Japan and the times we've needed help with our healthcare it has been a pleasurable and thrifty experience.
We return to the US in June. I am more than a bit afraid to move back to the US. I fear the slovenly, sedate, lazy lifestyle that is so common in the US. And the strain that kind of lifestyle puts on the entire system in the US. There are no accessible bike lanes in many cities in the US. The people in their gas guzzling vehicles feel they own the road and would never deign to ride their bike to the grocery when they can drive the 2 miles from home to the store instead.
Americans have a lot to learn from other parts of the world with regard to health care and every other aspect of their daily living. But that's a whole other rant you didn't ask for.
W - in Tokyo
Health care is not a commodity
It is clear that the United States needs universal healthcare for everyone.
In the U.S., you cannot have healthcare without a fulltime job. This is very limiting to people like myself who want to work in specialized fields as teachers, freelance writers, etc., that don't always have fulltime positions with benefits.
I've lived in Japan on and off for the past 10 years. Here I've been able to get affordable health insurance through the government under $400 per month, which can be less or more pending my annual income. If I were to get full coverage for my family in the United States even at a lower income than what I make in Japan, it would cost close to $600 a month with employee subsidized insurance and over $1000 if I were to pay it on my own.
Once when in the U.S., my health insurance costs went up 20 percent from one year to the next, while my wages did not increase at all. This great of an increase can only be explained by the insurance industry's desire to exponentially increase the return to their stockholders, as well as by the absurdly high salaries they pay some of their workers. I feel healthcare is not a commodity, but the right of every person.
It makes sense that people who make more should pay more in taxes to help subsidize the cost of services for all. Most people are hard workers, and there is only so much a person can do in one day no matter if they are billionaires or making under $20,000 a year. Both deserve the same right to live. If both were lost in a snowstorm climbing a mountain together, we'd send the same rescue team and put them both on the same helicopter, wouldn't we?
We are all climbing the same mountain.
Thanks.
Adam H.
Japan
Wisconsin
In the U.S., you cannot have healthcare without a fulltime job. This is very limiting to people like myself who want to work in specialized fields as teachers, freelance writers, etc., that don't always have fulltime positions with benefits.
I've lived in Japan on and off for the past 10 years. Here I've been able to get affordable health insurance through the government under $400 per month, which can be less or more pending my annual income. If I were to get full coverage for my family in the United States even at a lower income than what I make in Japan, it would cost close to $600 a month with employee subsidized insurance and over $1000 if I were to pay it on my own.
Once when in the U.S., my health insurance costs went up 20 percent from one year to the next, while my wages did not increase at all. This great of an increase can only be explained by the insurance industry's desire to exponentially increase the return to their stockholders, as well as by the absurdly high salaries they pay some of their workers. I feel healthcare is not a commodity, but the right of every person.
It makes sense that people who make more should pay more in taxes to help subsidize the cost of services for all. Most people are hard workers, and there is only so much a person can do in one day no matter if they are billionaires or making under $20,000 a year. Both deserve the same right to live. If both were lost in a snowstorm climbing a mountain together, we'd send the same rescue team and put them both on the same helicopter, wouldn't we?
We are all climbing the same mountain.
Thanks.
Adam H.
Japan
Wisconsin
An Opposing View
I do so as a twenty one year resident of Japan and also as someone who has had and continues to have extensive medical problems including asthma, slipped disc in back, pinched nerve in neck, herniated esophagus , hernia, gout and a disease of the liver. In spite of all these problems I manage to lead a very active life as a university lecturer and owner of a small business.
I think it is impossible to talk about health care in Japan without talking about health in general in Japan. The Japanese are the longest lived people in the world (in spite of their smoking habits) and I attribute this largely to the fact that these people eat a healthier diet than Americans, eat LESS than Americans, Weigh less than Americans, and are far more physically active than Americans. Can you really just talk about their national health care system without talking about the fact that Japanese have access to the best mass transit system in the world? What does that mean? It means that millions of Japanese walk to their train stations, walk up the stairs to the platform, down from the platform and walk to work. I don't know the national statistics but I do know that I walk an average one hour a day just getting to and from work and doing my shopping and daily errands. Consider how much slimmer and healthier New Yorkers (subways!) are than people in Mississippi (take the car to the mailbox). I would say more than half of Japanese use the mass transit system which goes some way to account for their fitness. Do we have decent mass transit in America?
Certainly Japanese have acquired bad eating habits from the West (especially America) but they still have a measure of portion control unheard of in the U.S.. The reason American housewives are the size of sumo wrestlers is because they (and their husbands and kids) eat as much as sumo wrestlers. I have been with Japanese friends in America who thought the portion they were served was actually for everyone at the table (four people). America, take the fork out of your mouth!
America does have the edge where smoking is concerned, but the Japanese are catching up rapidly. Smoking is definitely losing it's cachet with the young.
So what I want to say here is that the reason the Japanese are healthy is because of their lifestyles, not because of their health care system which is deeply, deeply flawed. True, everyone is eligible, but WHAT are you eligible for? You cannot talk about health care in Japan without actually talking about the quality of that care. Access alone is not the only issue. It is access to QUALITY health care that matters and the Japanese do NOT have it. In twenty one years of living here and using Japanese doctors (not to mention teaching doctors English at the University level) I have been consistently shocked at the almost total lack of accountability within the system. Doctors are a pampered elite here who are never questioned and never , never contradict each other. The system is such that if you do ask for a second opinion you are banished forever from the clinic where the first doctor made his diagnosis. Malpractice is common...and deadly, I have two close friends who were very seriously injured by malpractice here...both of whom had to return to the U.S. to have their problems taken care of. People die here because of the very, very serious problems in the system. They die (and are maimed or suffer) because the system
is a failure. The system here fails from top to bottom. Medical schools regularly accept the sons of doctors as a matter of course whether or not these people are qualified to be in medical schools or not. Medicine is a family business here. PLEASE do not even begin to think that the admissions system is honest (I am on the faculties of FIVE Japanese Universities and should know). Doctors graduate medical school with poor training and an even poorer idea of their responsibilities to their patients and communities. This pattern continues throughout their careers.
Let me provide just one example of how bad the system is. As far back as the 18th century Tobias Smollet (a medical doctor himself) was decrying the practice of doctors owning dispensaries. There is a clear conflict of interest if the doctor profits from prescribing medicines he sells. That is exactly what happens here. Medicines are (dangerously and expensively) over prescribed. The best evidence of this I know is that doctors regularly prescribe a stomach medicine to alleviate the symptoms caused by taking too much medicine! For a simple cold I was once prescribed ELEVEN different medications (remember the tax payer foots the bill so patients have little incentive to complain). Yet, the medicines prescribed are often
ineffective because the dosage of active ingredients is much lower than that sold in the U.S. (and this is where Japanese drug companies help themselves at the public trough).
I would argue that one thing that keeps the Japanese so healthy is the certain knowledge that if they get sick they will have to go see an incompetent doctor.
One of the aspects of our system Americans love to hate is the fact that lawyers drive up the cost of health care through their lawsuits. Try living in a society where a doctor can maim, cripple or kill you and there are no lawyers to help you find redress. Oh, there are good lawyers in Japan, (quite the opposite of their medical brethren), but they have very ,very little success challenging the medical system.
What I conclude from my twenty one years of experience here is NOT that national health care is a bad idea or that we should not try it, but that we need to look at GOOD models (France and maybe Germany?) not failed models (definitely Japan). We need to learn from the mistakes of others not simply assume these mistakes are inevitable.
But if you ask me whether I think America should change it's health care system to be more like Japan's, all I can say is
you should call the suicide hotline and have them talk you out of it.
Jeffrey Tarlofsky
Japan
California
I think it is impossible to talk about health care in Japan without talking about health in general in Japan. The Japanese are the longest lived people in the world (in spite of their smoking habits) and I attribute this largely to the fact that these people eat a healthier diet than Americans, eat LESS than Americans, Weigh less than Americans, and are far more physically active than Americans. Can you really just talk about their national health care system without talking about the fact that Japanese have access to the best mass transit system in the world? What does that mean? It means that millions of Japanese walk to their train stations, walk up the stairs to the platform, down from the platform and walk to work. I don't know the national statistics but I do know that I walk an average one hour a day just getting to and from work and doing my shopping and daily errands. Consider how much slimmer and healthier New Yorkers (subways!) are than people in Mississippi (take the car to the mailbox). I would say more than half of Japanese use the mass transit system which goes some way to account for their fitness. Do we have decent mass transit in America?
Certainly Japanese have acquired bad eating habits from the West (especially America) but they still have a measure of portion control unheard of in the U.S.. The reason American housewives are the size of sumo wrestlers is because they (and their husbands and kids) eat as much as sumo wrestlers. I have been with Japanese friends in America who thought the portion they were served was actually for everyone at the table (four people). America, take the fork out of your mouth!
America does have the edge where smoking is concerned, but the Japanese are catching up rapidly. Smoking is definitely losing it's cachet with the young.
So what I want to say here is that the reason the Japanese are healthy is because of their lifestyles, not because of their health care system which is deeply, deeply flawed. True, everyone is eligible, but WHAT are you eligible for? You cannot talk about health care in Japan without actually talking about the quality of that care. Access alone is not the only issue. It is access to QUALITY health care that matters and the Japanese do NOT have it. In twenty one years of living here and using Japanese doctors (not to mention teaching doctors English at the University level) I have been consistently shocked at the almost total lack of accountability within the system. Doctors are a pampered elite here who are never questioned and never , never contradict each other. The system is such that if you do ask for a second opinion you are banished forever from the clinic where the first doctor made his diagnosis. Malpractice is common...and deadly, I have two close friends who were very seriously injured by malpractice here...both of whom had to return to the U.S. to have their problems taken care of. People die here because of the very, very serious problems in the system. They die (and are maimed or suffer) because the system
is a failure. The system here fails from top to bottom. Medical schools regularly accept the sons of doctors as a matter of course whether or not these people are qualified to be in medical schools or not. Medicine is a family business here. PLEASE do not even begin to think that the admissions system is honest (I am on the faculties of FIVE Japanese Universities and should know). Doctors graduate medical school with poor training and an even poorer idea of their responsibilities to their patients and communities. This pattern continues throughout their careers.
Let me provide just one example of how bad the system is. As far back as the 18th century Tobias Smollet (a medical doctor himself) was decrying the practice of doctors owning dispensaries. There is a clear conflict of interest if the doctor profits from prescribing medicines he sells. That is exactly what happens here. Medicines are (dangerously and expensively) over prescribed. The best evidence of this I know is that doctors regularly prescribe a stomach medicine to alleviate the symptoms caused by taking too much medicine! For a simple cold I was once prescribed ELEVEN different medications (remember the tax payer foots the bill so patients have little incentive to complain). Yet, the medicines prescribed are often
ineffective because the dosage of active ingredients is much lower than that sold in the U.S. (and this is where Japanese drug companies help themselves at the public trough).
I would argue that one thing that keeps the Japanese so healthy is the certain knowledge that if they get sick they will have to go see an incompetent doctor.
One of the aspects of our system Americans love to hate is the fact that lawyers drive up the cost of health care through their lawsuits. Try living in a society where a doctor can maim, cripple or kill you and there are no lawyers to help you find redress. Oh, there are good lawyers in Japan, (quite the opposite of their medical brethren), but they have very ,very little success challenging the medical system.
What I conclude from my twenty one years of experience here is NOT that national health care is a bad idea or that we should not try it, but that we need to look at GOOD models (France and maybe Germany?) not failed models (definitely Japan). We need to learn from the mistakes of others not simply assume these mistakes are inevitable.
But if you ask me whether I think America should change it's health care system to be more like Japan's, all I can say is
you should call the suicide hotline and have them talk you out of it.
Jeffrey Tarlofsky
Japan
California
The Japanese system is easy to use and transparent
Eye infection
I was on vacation last summer and left my contact lense in a little bit too long. My eye became red and stayed pretty red even after the lense had been removed for a couple of days.
When I returned to Japan, the redness persisted so I decided to visit an eye specialist. Japan's Universal Health Care system allows participants to go to any doctor at any clinic/hospital, many of which are private; there are no 'health care networks' here like there are in the US. You simply go where ever you'd like to go (freedom!). In my case, it was an eye clinic 2 minutes' walk from my office.
I presented my health care card (monthly premiums are deducted directly from my pay in the same manner as social security in the US) to the receptionist and was seen by the doctor after a 20 minute wait.
The doctor gave me an eye exam and two different types of eyedrop medication. The cost for the visit & medication was $20. The entire ordeal took less than an hour and my eye returned to normal about 4 days later.
I like the Japanese system a lot. It's easy-to-use and transparent. As both a user & business person, I find it highly affordable and hassle-free. I would recommend a similar system to anyone.
Mike Stensrud
Tokyo (via Oregon)
I was on vacation last summer and left my contact lense in a little bit too long. My eye became red and stayed pretty red even after the lense had been removed for a couple of days.
When I returned to Japan, the redness persisted so I decided to visit an eye specialist. Japan's Universal Health Care system allows participants to go to any doctor at any clinic/hospital, many of which are private; there are no 'health care networks' here like there are in the US. You simply go where ever you'd like to go (freedom!). In my case, it was an eye clinic 2 minutes' walk from my office.
I presented my health care card (monthly premiums are deducted directly from my pay in the same manner as social security in the US) to the receptionist and was seen by the doctor after a 20 minute wait.
The doctor gave me an eye exam and two different types of eyedrop medication. The cost for the visit & medication was $20. The entire ordeal took less than an hour and my eye returned to normal about 4 days later.
I like the Japanese system a lot. It's easy-to-use and transparent. As both a user & business person, I find it highly affordable and hassle-free. I would recommend a similar system to anyone.
Mike Stensrud
Tokyo (via Oregon)
Many countries, many health care systems
I think it is an unfortunate situation that there are many people in
the United States who do not have adequate health care coverage, and I
think many other countries I have lived in do much better in this
regard...
In Austria, for more than 3 decades, I was covered by state health
insurance, which was quite complete coverage, and the system seems to
work well. You could have supplementary health insurance in
addition, but it did not really seem necessary. When I had
appendicitis in Austria in 1981, the hospital dealt with it well, and
I didn't have to pay anything at all - it was covered by state health
insurance, and almost nothing in the way of paperwork either..
In Japan the state health insurance provides basic health care
whenever I have a visa to stay in Japan for a year or more. But,
there may be some "loopholes" - it may be better to have some
supplementary - and I have not always found a solution that I am
really satisfied with. Short-term OK, but long-term still not really solved for me.
In the Netherlands, where I lived for 3 years, I didn't understand the
situation very well really, but I think it was better than in the US,
even now. Since they thought I was "well-paid", my employer said I
should buy into "private health insurance", required, which was
considered "adequate", I suppose.
Jimmy Macnaughton
Dates: I have not resided in the US since 1971.
Netherlands: 1971-1974
Austria: since 1974 except for time living in Japan
Japan:
1981
1990-1992
2001-2004 1/2 time in Japan
up to end of 2004, no problem with state health insurance in Austria
2005- present 9 months a year in Japan...
the United States who do not have adequate health care coverage, and I
think many other countries I have lived in do much better in this
regard...
In Austria, for more than 3 decades, I was covered by state health
insurance, which was quite complete coverage, and the system seems to
work well. You could have supplementary health insurance in
addition, but it did not really seem necessary. When I had
appendicitis in Austria in 1981, the hospital dealt with it well, and
I didn't have to pay anything at all - it was covered by state health
insurance, and almost nothing in the way of paperwork either..
In Japan the state health insurance provides basic health care
whenever I have a visa to stay in Japan for a year or more. But,
there may be some "loopholes" - it may be better to have some
supplementary - and I have not always found a solution that I am
really satisfied with. Short-term OK, but long-term still not really solved for me.
In the Netherlands, where I lived for 3 years, I didn't understand the
situation very well really, but I think it was better than in the US,
even now. Since they thought I was "well-paid", my employer said I
should buy into "private health insurance", required, which was
considered "adequate", I suppose.
Jimmy Macnaughton
Dates: I have not resided in the US since 1971.
Netherlands: 1971-1974
Austria: since 1974 except for time living in Japan
Japan:
1981
1990-1992
2001-2004 1/2 time in Japan
up to end of 2004, no problem with state health insurance in Austria
2005- present 9 months a year in Japan...
Thursday, February 5, 2009
I have No medical horror stories
I've been living in Japan for 33 years
3 of my four children were born here (the eldest child was born in Denmark -- that cost me $26.00)
Last year I had a 3-hour surgery and stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks.
I/my family have never had difficulty paying any medical bills.
I have NO medical horror stories to tell.
Karen
Japan
California
3 of my four children were born here (the eldest child was born in Denmark -- that cost me $26.00)
Last year I had a 3-hour surgery and stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks.
I/my family have never had difficulty paying any medical bills.
I have NO medical horror stories to tell.
Karen
Japan
California
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Socialized Medicine is Exciting!
In honor of Michael Moore's movie SICKO that's getting tremendous attention everywhere, I thought I'd share a personal experience of my own. I just got home from the most amazing experience, it's called..... (drumroll)... SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!!! It was so exciting.
About 2 weeks ago I slammed my knee running for the train (late as usual). The concrete step crashed into the middle of my kneecap, and I could barely bend it for 2 days. Although it improved, I was worried cuz it was still hurting sometimes. I didn't want it to heal weird, and start throbbing every time there was a rainstorm, or something like that. So I asked the lady at my foreign-students dormitory where I could get it checked out. She gave me a list of doctors in our neighborhood (about 15, all covering different specialties). We agreed I should go to the orthopedic surgeon; "no appointment is necessary, just show up" she said. I went at about 5 p.m. today on my bike.
Oh my goodness!!!!!! It was about the most divine customer-service experience of my LIFE! Dr. Maeda's office was a little drab, but functional and clean. Not luxurious-looking like hospitals in the U.S., with lots of fake plants and plaques with donors names. Just wood-panel walls and old magazines. I gave a written description of my problem to ease the language barrier, and after filling out one short form (basically contact info only) and handing over my government health insurance card, I took a seat.
SIDENOTE: Did you catch that part? GOVERNMENT HEALTH INSURANCE CARD!!! It is a cute blue affair that comes with a free plastic cover. I got it the week I arrived in Japan. Fresh off the boat, new immigrant, terrible Japanese. Still, I qualified for inclusion and was so happy to finally be fully insured I hugged and kissed the dude in the City Office, jumping up and down and yelling as he sweated in his polyester shirt. It was the best experience of my first month in Japan. But I hadn't had a chance to use the card until today...
So Dr. Maeda called for me from behind a door. Only wack thing about the office: the walls don't touch the ceiling! So I guess they don't care about patient privacy. Everyone can hear everything, so if you have something embarrassing I guess you write it down and slip the paper across the table, like a bank robber.
Anyways, I sat down and put my purse in the basket conveniently provided for this purpose. Dr. Maeda is a cheerful, tanned Japanese Santa Claus type. I wish I took a picture of him. He was laughing and practicing his English on me: "You run for train! Haha! Is dangerous! Don't you listen to warning in station? Haha!" After a few minutes of poking and prodding my knee, he said "We do x-ray now."
He took 2 x-rays and I waited another 5 minutes. Then he called me back into his office. "No break! Just contusion! Haha!! No jogging please!" He thoughtfully looked the word "contusion" up in his ancient dictionary while I was waiting. There was no interpreter but we got along ok with my so-so Japanese and his enthusiastic English.
He called the nurse to put a medicated stretchy patch thing over my whole knee, and cover it with a short white netting thing. Wrote a prescription for more of the disposable patches and sent me on my way with a laugh, saying in Japanese "If you were younger it would have healed faster! Haha, just kidding! Stop running for the train, ok? Haha!" I was glad to provide him with a source of hilarity for the afternoon, and stepped out of the office smiling. I sat back down on the bench to wait for the bill. I had been reassured "it won't be too much!" but I had no idea what to expect.
Soon the secretary called me up. "Forenbaum-san?" She returned my health insurance card, and gave me a new laminated one to use if I return to Dr. Maeda's. Then the bill: $13.24 (JY 1,610). That's it!! I'm on the "30% plan," which means the government pays the other 70% of the office visit. That includes 2 x-rays, meeting with the doctor, and getting one patch applied. No appointment, no waiting, excellent service, an immediate diagnosis, everyone's friendly. The whole affair took 30 minutes, out the door.
As for the prescription for the patches, those of us in from the medical hinterlands called the United States know that getting a prescription filled can be the most painful part of being sick. I remember as a kid waiting for hours in the Kaiser pharmacy, in a packed waiting room with screaming kids, dope fiends in rehab, people with rashes, and lots of coughing. As I started to leave Dr. Maeda's, I was grateful I could put off filling the non-emergency prescription for the knee patches. But the secretary told me: "There's a pharmacy just around the corner. Across from the 7-11. Take this there." I hopped on my bike. "Feel better!" she waved as I pulled away.
At said pharmacy, I walked in and handed the paper to dude. He took it in the back. 4 minutes later, emerged with my stuff. Grand total? $2.80 (JY 340). 2 weeks of treatment, silver plastic bag, my receipt. I'm dumbfounded, but the pharmacist is looking at me like I stole something. "Uhh, do you need anything else?" "Uh, I guess not..." Nutrition posters and bottles of Shiseido shampoo line the walls as I walk out.
Riding my bike home, I felt re-energized. Enthusiastic!! Healthy!! When did I last feel that way leaving the doctor's office... Maybe it was the warm reception I received (despite being a grammar-mangling foreigner) or maybe it was the unknown drugs in the stretchy patch thing. Or maybe it was the fact that my life wasn't interrupted by this minor injury, and society seems to agree that pro-active care for my knee is a pretty good idea. That's calming. I pedalled down the hill to do some grocery shopping. I'm not worried about my knee, or any other part of my health, and can focus on my work and life.
Nina Fallenbaum
Kanagawa, Japan
California
About 2 weeks ago I slammed my knee running for the train (late as usual). The concrete step crashed into the middle of my kneecap, and I could barely bend it for 2 days. Although it improved, I was worried cuz it was still hurting sometimes. I didn't want it to heal weird, and start throbbing every time there was a rainstorm, or something like that. So I asked the lady at my foreign-students dormitory where I could get it checked out. She gave me a list of doctors in our neighborhood (about 15, all covering different specialties). We agreed I should go to the orthopedic surgeon; "no appointment is necessary, just show up" she said. I went at about 5 p.m. today on my bike.
Oh my goodness!!!!!! It was about the most divine customer-service experience of my LIFE! Dr. Maeda's office was a little drab, but functional and clean. Not luxurious-looking like hospitals in the U.S., with lots of fake plants and plaques with donors names. Just wood-panel walls and old magazines. I gave a written description of my problem to ease the language barrier, and after filling out one short form (basically contact info only) and handing over my government health insurance card, I took a seat.
SIDENOTE: Did you catch that part? GOVERNMENT HEALTH INSURANCE CARD!!! It is a cute blue affair that comes with a free plastic cover. I got it the week I arrived in Japan. Fresh off the boat, new immigrant, terrible Japanese. Still, I qualified for inclusion and was so happy to finally be fully insured I hugged and kissed the dude in the City Office, jumping up and down and yelling as he sweated in his polyester shirt. It was the best experience of my first month in Japan. But I hadn't had a chance to use the card until today...
So Dr. Maeda called for me from behind a door. Only wack thing about the office: the walls don't touch the ceiling! So I guess they don't care about patient privacy. Everyone can hear everything, so if you have something embarrassing I guess you write it down and slip the paper across the table, like a bank robber.
Anyways, I sat down and put my purse in the basket conveniently provided for this purpose. Dr. Maeda is a cheerful, tanned Japanese Santa Claus type. I wish I took a picture of him. He was laughing and practicing his English on me: "You run for train! Haha! Is dangerous! Don't you listen to warning in station? Haha!" After a few minutes of poking and prodding my knee, he said "We do x-ray now."
He took 2 x-rays and I waited another 5 minutes. Then he called me back into his office. "No break! Just contusion! Haha!! No jogging please!" He thoughtfully looked the word "contusion" up in his ancient dictionary while I was waiting. There was no interpreter but we got along ok with my so-so Japanese and his enthusiastic English.
He called the nurse to put a medicated stretchy patch thing over my whole knee, and cover it with a short white netting thing. Wrote a prescription for more of the disposable patches and sent me on my way with a laugh, saying in Japanese "If you were younger it would have healed faster! Haha, just kidding! Stop running for the train, ok? Haha!" I was glad to provide him with a source of hilarity for the afternoon, and stepped out of the office smiling. I sat back down on the bench to wait for the bill. I had been reassured "it won't be too much!" but I had no idea what to expect.
Soon the secretary called me up. "Forenbaum-san?" She returned my health insurance card, and gave me a new laminated one to use if I return to Dr. Maeda's. Then the bill: $13.24 (JY 1,610). That's it!! I'm on the "30% plan," which means the government pays the other 70% of the office visit. That includes 2 x-rays, meeting with the doctor, and getting one patch applied. No appointment, no waiting, excellent service, an immediate diagnosis, everyone's friendly. The whole affair took 30 minutes, out the door.
As for the prescription for the patches, those of us in from the medical hinterlands called the United States know that getting a prescription filled can be the most painful part of being sick. I remember as a kid waiting for hours in the Kaiser pharmacy, in a packed waiting room with screaming kids, dope fiends in rehab, people with rashes, and lots of coughing. As I started to leave Dr. Maeda's, I was grateful I could put off filling the non-emergency prescription for the knee patches. But the secretary told me: "There's a pharmacy just around the corner. Across from the 7-11. Take this there." I hopped on my bike. "Feel better!" she waved as I pulled away.
At said pharmacy, I walked in and handed the paper to dude. He took it in the back. 4 minutes later, emerged with my stuff. Grand total? $2.80 (JY 340). 2 weeks of treatment, silver plastic bag, my receipt. I'm dumbfounded, but the pharmacist is looking at me like I stole something. "Uhh, do you need anything else?" "Uh, I guess not..." Nutrition posters and bottles of Shiseido shampoo line the walls as I walk out.
Riding my bike home, I felt re-energized. Enthusiastic!! Healthy!! When did I last feel that way leaving the doctor's office... Maybe it was the warm reception I received (despite being a grammar-mangling foreigner) or maybe it was the unknown drugs in the stretchy patch thing. Or maybe it was the fact that my life wasn't interrupted by this minor injury, and society seems to agree that pro-active care for my knee is a pretty good idea. That's calming. I pedalled down the hill to do some grocery shopping. I'm not worried about my knee, or any other part of my health, and can focus on my work and life.
Nina Fallenbaum
Kanagawa, Japan
California
Monday, July 21, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
National Health Care Paid for Premature twins
In 1999, my twins were born in a hospital in Japan, 14 weeks premature. My first thought, after I found out that they had been stabilized in the NICU, where basic costs were 80,000 yen per day, was that my husband and I would have to sell our house and that we would probably be forever in debt. As a native of a country without universal healthcare, this was the only outcome I could imagine.
Happily, national and supplemental insurance covered my twins' four and five month hospital stays. Japanese national insurance also covered my daughter's subsequent hospital stays (she was hospitalized at least ten times after she got out of the USA due to hermias, and respiratory infections which required stays in the very expensive ICU, HCU and CCU.)
Although I love my country, I believe that my family can not afford to live there. Without the Japanese national healthcare system, my family would have been rendered impoverished.
Suzanne Kamata
Japan
South Carolina
Happily, national and supplemental insurance covered my twins' four and five month hospital stays. Japanese national insurance also covered my daughter's subsequent hospital stays (she was hospitalized at least ten times after she got out of the USA due to hermias, and respiratory infections which required stays in the very expensive ICU, HCU and CCU.)
Although I love my country, I believe that my family can not afford to live there. Without the Japanese national healthcare system, my family would have been rendered impoverished.
Suzanne Kamata
Japan
South Carolina
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
National Health Care--No wait, easy sign up, cheap
In praise of universal coverage
The issue of health care is front and center these days due in large part to Michael Moore's new film. His documentary, "Sicko" shines a light on a dysfunctional health care system that does more to serve the interests of for-profit insurers than it does for the average American citizen. One of the most absurd features of the US for-profit health care system is denying someone access to treatment or a procedure based on a pre-existing condition.I recall trying to explain the concept of pre-existing condition to a friend from another country. This person could not fully grasp the concept as applied to health care because in his reality it did not exist - a reality where every citizen has access to high quality and affordable medical and dental care and would never be denied treatment based on past treatment, or a present medical condition - isn't that when people would most need care - to treat a present medical condition? Of course it is.
I am privileged to be able to share a view on this issue as a resident of a country that has an excellent universal heath care system, and thankfully NO pre-exisiting condition exclusions. In Japan, where I work and live, I am fully covered under a comprehensive universal coverage scheme through my city office. The process of enrolling was straightforward and painless. I presented myself at the city office, answered a few questions regarding visa status (I hold a work visa), last year's income in Japan (I had none as I had been in the US) and then I waited for a few minutes. The clerk came back with a new health insurance certificate for my family and informed me that I would receive my insurance premium invoice in a few weeks.
Sure enough, in a few weeks I received my insurance premium invoice in the mail. The annual premium was approximately $300.00 US dollars. I had to look again and confirm this with a Japanese friend - there was no mistake. I had the option of paying in ten installments or in a lump sum. At that premium I opted to take care of it all at once and viola, our health insurance was paid up for a year. Of course, our premiums were nominal due to not having any income to report in Japan for the previous year; this year they are higher but still much lower (around $230.00 per month for two people) than what I would pay for a private policy for my family in the US - another excellent feature of this plan is that the premium also includes long-term care insurance for adults over the age of 40.
There is nothing like the feeling of security that comes from knowing that when necessary, you and your family have access to affordable medical and dental treatment. Having been without such coverage in the US and having experienced the accompanying anxiety, I feel fortunate to be able to participate in a system that is, unfortunately, and sadly, out of reach for 47 million Americans, many of whom are children.
Gregory
Japan
Seattle, Washington
See the original post here
http://broaderview.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-praise-of-universal-coverage.html
Thursday, April 3, 2008
When our twins were born, we received a cash payment ...
In Japan, when our children, twin girls, were born, we received a direct cash payment equal to the full amount a typical hospital would charge for each birth, not some unrealistic fraction of the amount. Our daughters, now toddlers, will receive free health care until their mid teens -- vaccinations, coughs and colds, emergency care, major care if they need it.
We can use virtually any doctor or hospital, and their regular pediatrician is a Japanese version of a Normal Rockwell small town family doctor.
I feel like we get something worthwhile for my tax money in Japan -- not just the Rumsfeld-Cheney war.
Eric W. Sedlak
Tokyo
We can use virtually any doctor or hospital, and their regular pediatrician is a Japanese version of a Normal Rockwell small town family doctor.
I feel like we get something worthwhile for my tax money in Japan -- not just the Rumsfeld-Cheney war.
Eric W. Sedlak
Tokyo
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