It’s Just What the Doctor Ordered
Japan shows how it’s done: keep quality up, costs down, and M.D.s on board.
To gauge a health-care system’s success, it’s standard to consider three points: quality, coverage, and cost. On all three measures, Japan stands at or near the top in every comparative ranking.
Quality: The Japanese have the world’s longest life expectancy and the best recovery rates from just about every major disease. Infant mortality is less than half the U.S. rate. Japan usually leads the world in rankings of “avoidable mortality”—its effectiveness in curing diseases that can be cured.
Coverage: Japan’s health-insurance sys-tem covers everybody, including illegal aliens. It pays for physical, mental, dental, and long-term care. The Japanese are the world’s most prodigious consumers of medical care; on average they see the doctor about 15 times per year, three times the U.S. norm. They get twice as many prescriptions per capita and three times as many MRI scans. The average hospital stay is 20 nights—four times the U.S. average.
Cost: And yet Japan produces all that high-quality care at bargain-basement prices. The aging nation spends about $3,500 per person on health care each year; America burns through $7,400 per person and still leaves millions without coverage.
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14 comments:
How does this happen in this day and time ? Japan has it all together when it comes to Health Care, why can the US not seem to figure it out ?
read between the lines. check the comments at the bottom of the article. maybe if this country considered getting the government and the lawyers out of the way you might see an even better sytem than the mess we have now, which for now is still the greatest in the world
you also should point out that Japan has a 10% plus higher tax rate than the US and there is no sliding income scale. Everyone gets banged for atleast 50%. I would argue that difference is where health Ins is. I still think for higher income earners we have it much better here in the U.S.
"Health insurers are required by law to cover everybody, and to pay every claim; the corollary is that everybody is required to buy health insurance."
-Republicans sure would fight this one.
You guys never listen to me. It's the insurance companies that are killing us. If everyone today dropped all insurance they had, the medical costs would plummet dramatically! Doctors charge an arm and a leg because they can! Insurance companies already have your money through premiums, deductibles, etc. Everyone makes out except the consumer. Thats why it's so easy for companies, doctors, hospitals, etc. to just "write it off".
In my opinion, ObamaCare is just adding more insurance to the insurance problem.
1:45 that's because Japan does not spend trillions of dollars on useless wars.
Thank you 2:05 for pointing that out they have a much better system because everyone pays for it. They have also had their system in place for years and it is run efficiently with minimal administrative cost (which is a huge burden in the american health care system)... In this country, the government votes to improve the system by raising the medicare tax 2.5% on rich people and adding a 10% tanning bed tax and everyone from the right freaks out.
Rob S
And yet they live longer and have fewer infants deaths, HMMMMM. I think their problems would be easier to fix than the mess we have
Alex said...
1:45 that's because Japan does not spend trillions of dollars on useless wars.
Thats because we are forced to protect and defend them. They do not have to spend one dime on a military.
And the graft and corruption and misappropriation of funds is also at a minimum...in the U.S., if an executive gets caught stealing or scamming the taxpayers, he gets a lawyer and a golden parachute and retires in luxury. In Japan, he jumps out the 14th story window. It is also true that our multi-billion dollar nuclear umbrella protects Japan and allows them to spend billions on things that WE essentially subsidize....
it is also a very cultural difference even though smoking and drinking is common the people don't eat the garbage we do they walk and exercise more there is little obesity or diabetes and they care for their elders and extended family members at home and there is a concept of shame and of pride
there is little disability fraud or tolerance for highly medicated BS diagnosis we have here with depression,ADHD,chronic fatigue disorder. Our hyper consumerism has made being ill just another profit driven shopping pastime for americans that's why it will never work here
they also do not have the percentage of illegals we have...they are a country surrounded by water, i.e. no Mexico! they protect their borders and do not let foreigners stay in their country as long as we allow...it's articles like this that make it seem so simple...maybe we should cut off all the billions of dollars in aid we give to countries that hate us! and use that to help the poor drug dealers that get shot on the street and have to be treated without health insurance. it's not like people are turned away...the hospitals and doctors eat the cost and then pass it onto to the rest of us...despite what liberals tell you insurance is not a right. it's a priveledge which is typicaly awarded through hard work...like a JOB! Obama's message should be "Why Work? We'll just give to you on the backs of honest, taxpaying Americans" We can fix healthcare by cracking down on the insurance companies...not letting the government do it..the government could f-up a wet dream!
And lets not forget their economy is almost always excellent because their children are better educated,there are jobs for everyone and everyone is expected to work.Except for the losses in the Japanese steel industry in the 80's, their economy seems to be historically stable.
not a good arguement blutothetotmom....we have the largest, wealthiest economy in the world...that's not the reason. they do not have the drug problem we have...and the poor inner city minorities who tax the healthcare system with babies who are born premature and addicted to drugs...typicaly the u.s. has the lowest unemployemnt rate of any nation...cause you have to work to move ahead in life...
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