Talk:Health care in Japan

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This article seems to be written from a flamboyantly new-age alternative medicile POV.

Well, I guess then the US Library of Congress Country Studies section has been taken over by flamboyantly new-age alternative medicile people. (check the reference) Somebody call the president.

I don't know why you have that impression. The first sentence? Well, Japan has reformed it's health system after Western models during the Meiji period. And if you check Japanese life expectancy during the last 200 years, then importing western medicine was a good thing. -- Mkill 23:11, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

The bit In addition to cost-control problems, the system was troubled with excessive paperwork, long waits to see physicians, assembly-line care for out-patients (because few facilities made appointments), overmedication, and abuse of the system because of low out-of-pocket costs to patients simply doesn't correspond with my experience with the Japanese health system. I have no idea what "excessive paperwork" is being referenced since I have received far more paperwork in the U.S. system than in the Japanese system and I have never seen any "long wait" for services (in fact, my experience is the opposite: I have seen longer waits to see a physician here in the U.S. for pregnancy matters where physicians who specialize in that area of medicine seem to be a bit scarce.) As to overmedication, perceived overmedication is certainly discussed a good bit in Japan, particularly in regard to the prescription of antibiotics, but my own personal take is that it isn't having a very negative effect on the population overall despite the obvious dangers of increased antibiotic resistance. [unsigned user]

I agree with you. This seems written from the POV of someone who is making stuff up to slander Japan's universal health care system, which is usually regarded as one of the best in the world. I've marked it as needing citations. Fiction Alchemist 14:47, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

It seems that the references do include a page that mentions this stuff, but it's not listed as a direct citation, which confused me. Does anyone have any other citations for the page? Again, I've always read that Japan's system is working fine. The referenced page is the only page I've seen that complained like this. Fiction Alchemist 00:11, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

This article mischaracterizes the contents of the linked reference. It inaccurately states that rural hospitals received a higher allocation of health care personnel, but in fact the opposite is true:

http://www.physorg.com/news124904935.html http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKT29658920070830

What the linked article actually stated was that rural facilities receive a higher share of advanced medical equipment. A chronic shortage of doctors, especially in rural areas, is perhaps the most serious difficulty facing the Japanese health care system, but it seems to owe as much to demographics (a rapidly aging population coupled with a reluctance to allow immigration of doctors) as to economics (doctors' salaries are strictly regulated).

My experience in Tokyo is similar to the comment above: There is virtually no paperwork to speak of, waiting times are vastly shorter than in the New York, and medication is simultaneously overprescribed, when it is unnecessary, especially antibiotics, and underprescribed, in the sense that the amount that is given is often insufficient. (E.g., I received a 1-week course of antibiotics for an infection that in the US would normally be treated for 2 weeks. It took exactly 7 days for my symptoms to disappear, leaving no margin for error.) In other parts of the country, even in the suburbs of Osaka, the shortage of medical personnel has led to increasing waiting times during emergencies and in particular to long ambulance drives searching for a hospital that can accept the patient (my mother-in-law experienced this last month). Moreover, the comment above about pregnancy seems to contradict the widely publicized acute lack of obstetricians in Japan, which is due in part to very low birth rates and increasing numbers of malpractice lawsuits.

http://www.boloji.com/opinion/0417.htm

Gmalcolms (talk) 02:49, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Healthcare Effectiveness Indicators?

Should there be a reference to generally accepted healthcare indicators in Japan (infant mortality rates, life expectancies, leading causes of death) in this article?. Is this kind of information available and/or relevant? I was under the impression that Japan has an excellent record in this regard and came to this article to check. --66.68.170.212 00:56, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, check this out: http://www.photius.com/rankings/world_health_systems.html Japan scores 10th best in overall on this list. It scores favorably in the other categories as well. C.V. Reynolds (talk) 20:17, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, I put that in the wrong spot, I think. Well, to answer YOUR question, check this one: http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/8Comparison.htm Japan does fare very well in this area. C.V. Reynolds (talk) 20:21, 21 November 2007 (UTC)