How is the health insurance system in Japan?
Theoretically, all citizens (anyone who lives for more than 3 months) in Japan have public health insurance.
It maintains a high level of medical care instead of keeping low medical costs for individuals.
Patients can freely choose both public and private hospitals as they wish.
I guess the reality might be different, but so far, it sounds good and easy.
How do we pay for medical care?
We pay two types of money related to medical services: the insurance fee and the medical expense.
Insurance fee:
The money we pay to a medical insurance provider every month.
By paying this, we can have medical insurance.
Prices depend on where we live and our income.
Medical expense:
The money we pay at the counter when we go to the hospital.
The % of medical expenses that individuals have to pay varies depending on age. For example, from the age of 6 to 70, we need to cover 30% of the medical expenses.
Are there any distinctive services?
If the medical expenses become too high, there is a service named “High-Cost Medical Expense Benefit”.
This service determines the monthly maximum amount of medical expenses, which depends on our income.
In case of exceeding the amount of maximum medical expenses, the medical insurance provider covers the rest of the expenses.
Let’s look at an example to see how much an individual has to pay.
A 50-year-old male, with a monthly income of 230,000 JPY (approximately 1,600 USD*). He is taking the cancer treatment, and medical expenses cost 1 million JPY (approximately 6,700 USD*) a month:
①Usual medical expense ⇒300,000 JPY (2,000 USD*) (30% of 1,000,000 JPY)
②High-Cost Medical Expense Benefit service⇒ The monthly limit is about 57,000 JPY (380 USD*), according to his income level. The rest of the medical expenses are covered by the medical insurance provider.
* Calculating 1 United States Dollar (USD)=150 Japanese Yen (JPY)
Thanks to this kind of service, we can receive enough medical care when we get sick.
Universal health insurance is a system that must be protected!!!
References:
– The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan. Universal Health Insurance. https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/12400000/000913109.pdf
– Japan Health Insurance Association. Calculation of High Cost Medical Expense Benefit. https://www.kyoukaikenpo.or.jp/g3/sb3030/sbb30302/1935-66724/
