Health Care Reform In Japan

Japan’s universal health care system, built on the
German social insurance model and remarkably inexpensive by
American standards, has nevertheless entered an era of
economic stress and government calls for more radical reforms.
The reasons why Japan has been able to constrain its health
care spending are multiple, but some of the explanation lies in
its record of much lower levels of expensive social phenomena
compared with most other industrialized nations. Its rates of
crime, divorce, teenage births, drug use, high-speed motor
vehicle accidents, and incidence of human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) are all appreciably lower than comparative
numbers in the United States. However, from a policy
perspective, authors Naoki Ikegami and John Campbell believe
that one of the system’s most significant achievements is its
record of effective cost control without first restructuring its
traditional system of health care delivery. Nevertheless, as
Ikegami and Campbell discuss, Japan’s health insurance system
faces tough challenges in three major areas: growing consumer
consciousness, a rapidly aging population, and rising costs.

Mariam Ahmad