Japanese Pay Less for More Health Care
by T.R. Reid,NPR
Japan produces cars, color TVs and computers, but it also produces the world’s healthiest people. It has the longest healthy life expectancy on Earth and spends half as much on health care as the United States.
That long life expectancy is partly due to diet and lifestyle, but the country’s universal health care system plays a key role, too.
Everyone in Japan is required to get a health insurance policy, either at work or through a community-based insurer. The government picks up the tab for those who are too poor.
It’s a model of social insurance that is used in many wealthy countries. But it’s definitely not “socialized medicine.” Eighty percent of Japan’s hospitals are privately owned — more than in the United States — and almost every doctor’s office is a private business.
Health Care for Anyone at Anytime
Dr. Kono Hitoshi is a typical doctor. He runs a private, 19-bed hospital in the Tokyo neighborhood of Soshigaya.
“The best thing about the Japanese medical system is that all citizens are covered,” Kono says. “Anyone, anywhere, anytime — and it’s cheap.”
Patients don’t have to make appointments at his hospital, either.
The Japanese go to the doctor about three times as often as Americans. Because there are no gatekeepers, they can see any specialist they want.
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