A Facebook post from a British translator residing in Japan, re: health care
As a Japanese-English translator, I am Facebook friends with a lot of translators from around the world, including several Westerners who live in Japan permanently, often as the current or former spouse of a Japanese person or as an employee of a Japanese company.
One of Japan's health problems is a high rate of stomach cancer. There are various theories about why this is true, but it's a sad fact.
Well, this translator told about seeing an announcement from her municipal government about screenings for stomach cancer. So she went and had the tests at the announced location. The cost? Four hundred yen, which is the price of a fancy drink at a Japanese Starbucks. I don't know if this kind of thing happens everywhere in Japan, but it was a special event in her town.
The British people on her friends' list were envious, too, because apparently, they have to be referred for such screenings by their G.P.
Now Japanese health care is not necessarily cheap, since the co-pays can be high. Still, it has two features that I wish the U.S. would emulate if a full single payer program were not feasible. One is that there are no deductibles. Whether you have private insurance (usually through your employer) or "public option" insurance, you have co-pays for routine and emergency care, but no deductibles, and if your deductibles add up to more than a certain amount, the government gives you a refund. The other is that the government pays for catastrophic and chronic conditions.
I know one translator who went to Japan as a young man and was diagnosed with a heart condition while he was over there. Until the ACA, this made him uninsurable in the U.S. Even though he would now be insurable, he has lived most of his life in Japan, so it's "home," and he's over 50, which would make his insurance expensive, and unlike the U.S., his heart condition is one that the government covers fully.
A few years ago, I visited a physical rehabilitation hospital on the grounds of a health careers university in northern Japan where a friend teaches. It was a pleasant, comfortable-looking place, and I asked who pays for the patients' care. The answer: Most of the people here are covered by the government's catastrophic care program.
The U.S. can really be pathetic at times. Even when preventive and diagnostic care is free, people are afraid to get it because the cost of the treatment after deductibles scares them.
= new reply since forum marked as read
