When I arrived in Japan in the early 1990s, I was surprised to find out that health care wasn't free.
Part of that was my own naive thinking. Even though I had spent some time in the USA, where health care is very expensive, I had never really thought about paying for health care in Japan.
Between the two extremes of the USA system, where if you don't have good insurance, getting sick or injured can put you in debt and the free services in England, I've found the system in Japan is a good middle ground.
We pay into the national health insurance. The amount that you have to pay depends on your income. At the moment, my income is very low, about 20,000 yen a month, £100, so I pay 2,000 yen, £10 pounds a month. At the hospital or dentist, I have to pay 30% of the bill.
A few times when the bill has been more than I can pay, I've talked to the accounts office and set up a monthly payment. I did this when my mother-in-law was in the hospital for almost a year. When I was given the bill, I told them that I couldn't pay and asked for help.
The services here are good and quick. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I joined an online support group based in the UK. There are support groups here, but I didn't think I could communicate or ask questions in Japanese. Within a month, I had been diagnosed, had a lot of tests done, had my teeth checked, had a mastectomy and was back home. One lady in that group was diagnosed at the same time and was still waiting for follow-up tests! This was pre Covid.
The reason I'm writing this and why this is on my mind is that my Dad called last night, at about 11 pm, Japan time.
He had fallen down while he was out shopping. One staff member in a building society ( similar to a bank, but is owned by the customers, not shareholders, they deal with loans and mortgages) saw him, and helped him into the shop where he could wait for the ambulance to arrive. My Dad didn't have his hearing aid, so the lady was relaying the information to the paramedics. When she had finished doing that she spoke to me, telling me that she hadn't seen my Dad fall but had found him on the floor. She then said that the paramedics would arrive in about an hour!
I was shocked; this isn't a remote area, and it's not in the middle of nowhere. The nearest hospital with an A&E (accident and emergency room) is a 20-minute drive away, with sirens and lights, making it about 10 minutes away.
After I finished talking to Dad, I called my brother and asked him to check on Dad. My brother doesn't live near, but nearer than me, at least in the same country. I told him about the one-hour wait, he said that it is quick; sometimes you can wait anywhere from 4 to 8 hours. I'm wondering what if it's a fatal injury, a heart attack or stroke, do you still need to wait for hours to get help?
We live in the middle of nowhere, the nearest hospital is over half an hour's drive away, but when David collapsed, an ambulance arrived within 10 minutes.
At 11am, Japan time, my brother sent me a message saying that Dad was waiting for X-rays and blood tests. That's 12 hours since the accident! I can't imagine waiting that long!
I struggle with being in Japan, basically language and culture barriers, some of which are in my mind and not real. But after this, I'm glad to be here, at least the health service here is quick and thorough. There are long waiting times in bigger hospitals, but not 12 hours! The longest I've had to wait was about 3 hours.
I've seen news articles about the problems with the NHS, but I always thought they were exaggerated, but maybe not!
I'm waiting to see how my Dad is, why he fell, this is the second time this year. I guess at 88 these things are going to happen, but it's a worry!
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| Dad, nine years ago! |
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