Day 260 of writing every day.
Health insurance in Japan works well for common issues such as getting a physical or going into a hospital or clinic to get something looked at. You just have to present your health insurance card and pay around 30% of the costs with the bill of a visit usually around or under 3000 yen depending on if you need medicine and whatnot. The mandatory national health insurance system where every resident, Japanese citizen or not, needs to be insured works out to be a pretty good deal for many.
Of course, there are those who don’t go to the doctor or dentist at all and might complain that they’re being forced to pay for something they don’t need. It’s a fair response but the law is written in support of affordable access to healthcare.
What I don’t understand is why companies opt to use private insurance providers rather than the national health insurance available to everyone. Unlike the US, there’s none of the bullshit in regards to health insurance being usable or not based on whether a hospital is in the insurer’s network or not. My perception of private health insurance is that they’re out to make a profit and that’s what will come first if you end up using their plan due to some unforeseen misfortune that happens.
If anything private insurance in Japan focused on things not covered by general health insurance, making it a premium for costly events that even regular Insurance cannot make affordable. I’m sure elective surgeries aren’t going to be covered by private health insurance, but they might payout if you end up having to stay hospitalized or need rehab for an extended period of time.
Sports injury insurance is something cheap that ended up being worth more than what I paid into, so it is good insurance to be enrolled in. I talked about it in my posts months ago regarding my pinky toe injury.
Anyways, I got the notice that my new insurance card would be arriving soon from work. Like in the US there’s a need for employers to provide health insurance to full-time employees, so that is why I have to make the switch from national health insurance, which I enrolled through city hall, to the insurance provider through my employer. Thankfully the process to notify city hall to take me off national health insurance can be done online now according to the explanation I got, so I don’t have to walk in to return the card as the expectation is I’m working on weekdays when city hall is open.
There’s nothing else I’ll need to do when my providers change. I don’t need to worry if my insurance will still allow me to see the same doctor or dentist, or anything else. I just give them my new insurance card the next time I go so they can update their records and who to bill the remainder of the medical fees.
Thanks for reading!
One Chance Works 