Healthcare for the elderly Japanese
Healthcare in Japan is definitely envied around the world. The Japanese spend half as much as Americans do on healthcare but still live longer. The cheap and universal health insurance system of Japan locally called “kaihoken” has been around for more than 50 years and has definitely provided the Japanese with a good health. This has created a culture of religiously taking care of one’s health and has cause for the Japanese to visit the doctors as often as they could, even twice as much as the Europeans do. Medicines that are offered to the Japanese are much healthier and aid in prolonging their life. Patients are not usually hurried out of hospital beds but can stay as long as they feel.
Sharp Decline of Japan’s Infant Mortality
One of the countries with lowest infant mortality rate is Japan and the system has obviously taken care of its people to ensure the longevity of good life. The medical system is now in turmoil as it was not created to fit the economy of the country right now. The Japanese are getting older and the workforce has started to get smaller which means the healthcare system might start to fail. The healthcare system cannot work for a workforce that is not large and the smaller the number of the workforce, the worst that the system would fail. Government officials are against rising of the taxes but they have to should two-thirds of the hospital bills thus leading to suppliers being losing income. There has been shortage of doctors especially in rural areas and in the field of surgeries, paediatrics and obstetrics. There is a shortage in workforce because of low birth rate in the country. Doctors earn their pay through prescription of drugs and work hard every day in order to get a higher income by the end of the week. There are about 100 patients a day for the doctors to see and compensation is done through prescribing more drugs and tests.
Images from Puritan Life and JPHA
