Coming from a Conservative Family, I was Suspicious of Universal Health Care

As an American citizen, I know how it is in the states. During college, I was slightly covered by the university's student insurance plan, but when I actually needed it, it only covered a part of the costs, and I found out how little when I got the bill. I could have bought a nice car for the price. I had to use my student loan money to pay it off.

After University, I tried my hand at working independently. But with the plans being confusing and requiring a separate university degree just to understand what I was supposed to be choosing/paying for/ and getting, it isn't any wonder that I gave up on trying to be insured. I just tried to keep myself healthy and rely on over-the-counter medicine.

Then I came to Japan. While working for the government, I was first introduced to the universal healthcare plan. I admit, having come from a conservative family, I was suspicious of this system. It certainly took a large chunk of my salary, but once I was familiarized with the ins and outs of it, I grew to respect it. To be fair, I will list both the bad points along with the good points.

Bad point 1: senior citizens, who pay almost nothing for a visit to the doctor, will go to the hospitals almost every morning to get looked at for whatever ails them. However, it should be noted that there are a growing number of small clinics connected in some way to the larger hospitals, and so people can go to the small clinics, see a local (read as family) doctor to get a first look, then if needed, get a referral to a doctor in the major hospital, jumping to the head of the line when needed.

Bad point 2: Dentists here are all about painless dentistry. that means that each visit will be a week apart and last for 10-15 minutes. This will continue for 3-5 visits depending on what is needed. The first time will be about 1500 yen, which includes X-Rays, and subsequent visits will be about 6-700 yen. Detractors will say this is evidence of the dentists milking the system, but the visits are truly painless. Unlike when I had a cavity filled in my homeland of the U.S. I was given 2 hours of excruciating pain as the doctor jabbed, drilled, filled, etc. then had to deal with a lot of pain when the local anesthetic wore off. To make matters worse, the filling came out not 3 days later, and I had to pay another 80 dollars for the dentist to put it back in... (dentistry wasn't covered by my u.s. insurance at that time). I have had a root canal, and 2 different cavities filled while here in japan, and the price hasn't changed one bit.

Good Point 1: Children are free. Depending on which prefecture you live in, the government gives a subsidy in cash every 4 months to care for babies through to elementary age. And the medical visits for children to pediatricians is 100% free. that includes the medicine as well. That also includes all the shots and check ups that babies need to become immunized. All free.

Good Point 2: Medical expenses are refunded. Go the hospital in Japan? Save the receipts if you are living here, and when you go to pay your taxes, submit a form with the receipts and whatever wasn't covered by the insurance (which covers about 90% of any medical fees and medicine fees) can help land you refund money.

Good Point 3: no paperwork. Seriously. I was SOOOOO tired of filling out requisite forms in the U.S. for my insurance company I initially used when I arrived in Japan. Here I get a card. I give the staff my card, and they give it right back when I am done. That's it. I don't have to get a doctor to write forms in triplicate.


Good Point 4: The prices don't change. The premiums are the same every year. They don't change as a result of having used the insurance. Here is a negative example of what happened to my father in the States. He had a problem that required him to stay in the hospital for a few days. He remembers only receiving two asprins for pain during his entire stay. Yet when he got the itimized bill, he found that they charged him for having supposedly received pills every hour for the entire time he was in the hospital. Yes, that's right! They charged him for apparently taking hundreds of pills that never entered his room let alone went down his throat. When he told his insurer about the fraud, they told him there was nothing that could be done. They would still raise his insurance premium for having used the insurance at a hospital and cost them so much. As for the hospital overcharging him, that was explained away as the way hospitals operate nowadays. when
someone doesn't have insurance and comes into the ER, people who have insurance are charged for their medicine. The insurance companies raise the rates of the people paying money for their insurance and don't do much to stop the hospitals unless too many people complain, and then they just stop allowing their customers to use their insurance at the hospital. They don't do anything to stop the fraud itself. So in the states, those who pay for insurance pay more for paying for those who don't pay anything for their visits to the ER. Wouldn't it just be better if EVERYONE was covered, and the rates stayed the same regardless of who used them or how much was needed?

S.S.
Japan.

Long-term Hospital Stay in Spain

I had gotten a call from the daughter "M" of a fellow teacher, who I was helping while she was going to school, "K" is her apartment mate in this true story.

I got a phone call,"I don't know what to do, "K" is unconscious." "M" went to a neighbor and they called for an ambulance.

The next call from "M" was, "I am in the ambulance and we are on our way to Val D'Hebron Hospital." (In Barcelona) I left Sitges and was at the hospital within an hour and worked my way to the emergency room. There was "M" in utter shock and "K" was unconscious and being prepped to be moved to intensive care........

The doctors and nurses wheeled her up to intensive care and "M" and I waited about two hours before a doctor called us in to an office. She asked if we were relatives. We said no.....Fortunately "M" had grabbed "K's" purse. The doctor told us that "K" had suffered a sodium depletion and had aspirated her vomit and that her lungs had become totally infected......"You have to call "K's" mother immediately and get her here, we do not know if she will make it."

"M" and I phoned the mother from the hospital and explained the emergency, but did not mention the possibility that "K" might not make it. (To emphasize the emergency I told "Ks" mother, "I don't care how much you have to spend on the ticket, you have to get here.") I met "K's" mother at the airport the next morning and took her right to the hospital. "K" was on tubes and unconscious.

"K" was unconscious for at least three weeks and remained in intensive care for five weeks. She was then transferred to the General Hospital for a week when she suffered a pulmonary embulism and was put back into intensive care for a week and back to the general hospital for two more weeks.

When she was released, she was ambulanced back to the hospital several times for therapy.....

I was at the hospital every day of the first five weeks to help the mother and to translate with friends of "K"......

"K" Suffered from a sodium depletion, ARDS (Acute Respiratory Disorder Syndrome), Pulmonary Embulism........The only reason she survived was because she was a cross country runner and ran almost every day, she never smoked, and she never did drugs. She was well educated and is working on her PHD today.

She is a U.S. Citizen and was attending a university and working part time..........Tecnically she should not have been covered by the social security system here, but the University got that adjusted.

She was taking extensive amounts of drugs for a long time (Antibiotics, Anticoagulants etc.) She was monitored for about six months and eventually was released from hospital care with her "Alta". Once, after a trip to the U.S., she discovered a blood clot in her leg and learned that she had to inject herself with an anticoagulant prior to any flight...........

What was her bill at the end of all that ? "0" I believe the most she had to pay for any prescriptions after release from the hospital was 2 euros.........

In seven years of living in Spain, I have paid "0" towards my healthcare......I can join the social security system for 48 euros a month , approximately $68. However, even if I am not in the system and in an emergency, they will take care of me and worry about billing later......

Doctors are paid 42,000 to 46,000 Euros, about $54,000 to $59,000 a year (And probably work 20 hours a week for Spain) ........I have a friend who is a doctor. Since he is a capitalist, he has his own private clinic in two separate cities and makes about $125,000 a year total.

If I were President: I would make all licensed doctors participate in an annual national licensing program that they must serve 20 hours of service at a Nationalized Hospital......They would all receive $100,000 for that service.

What hospitals should be nationalized? County and state hospitals and private hospitals that are going out of business or not making it........Remember, Religious Hospitals get wicked tax breaks that private hospitals can not compete with.

Unless the United States takes the burden of healthcare off the American Businesses, Governmental bodies, school districts, wages can not be competitive with the rest of the world?

President Obama claims that, "We must impove the system we have." I disagree you must remove the system we have and build a new one......Yes, "We can rebuild America without greediness and corruption!"

Herbert Chersonsky
Spain