Essay On Japan's Health Care

In Japan, healthcare is significantly cheaper and the Japanese systems provides healthcare for all of their citizens. This differs from the U.S where we must buy our own healthcare or be fined for not having health insurance. In the U.S we have to pay a copay to see a doctor and that can range anywhere from 15-50 dollars, and this is with health insurance. Without health insurance it is much more expensive to see a doctor. In Japan it is $20 to see a doctor even without insurance (Wanjek, 2009). This is much cheaper than the United States costs of seeing a doctor and may be a reason why Japanese people are much more healthy than Americans. Americans tend to avoid going to the doctor because of how expensive it can be with or without health

Japan usually has people obtain health insurance through their work ("TEFL Articles."), which is similar to how people in the U.S obtain health insurance. People who do not have health insurance in Japan however, are able to participate in another national health insurance program, which is run by the local government in Japan ("TEFL Articles."). This shows there are some similarities between the U.S and Japan in regards to how citizens obtain health insurance, but Japan takes a step further than the U.S and allows a national healthcare program that helps people who do not have health insurance. Japan covers basic preventative services like dental care and most people in Japan can get appointments with specialists without having to go to a general practitioner first ("TEFL Articles."). Japan also takes preventative health measures by having low levels of violence, drug addictions, health and income disparity and obesity, which is the opposite compared to the United States. Japan’s emphasis on preventative healthcare has been a huge contributor to why Japan has such a healthy population. Japanese have a longer life expectancy of four more years than Americans (Wanjek, 2009).