Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
Japanese national insurance is still 100 times better than what we have in the US. I pay a couple hundred dollars a month, and then dread getting sick, as they only cover certain illnesses and conditions.
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Except that in the US you can get quality care 24/7. There are still stories in Japan of people dying because the hospital or emergency room they were taken to is either full or closed (Japanese law limits the amount of services each hospital may provide per day, week, month, and year).
In America, all hospitals and emergency rooms are required by law to help you, whether you have insurance or not, even if the service cost tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I've never been impressed with the quality of Japanese doctors. You can go to three different doctors and get three different opinions about the same problem. My GF had a mouth infection that no doctor in Japan seemed to be able to diagnose, luckily a friend of hers at work knew a British doctor who was in town for a convention, he diagnosed her problem without even having to do any clinical tests.
People from Canada, England, Korea, and Japan often travel to America for treatment to illnesses to avoid long waits for treatment in their own countries. Free health care is rationed health care, and one must often live with a painful condition for several months (often as long as a year) before a doctor or hospital can find a spot for your treatment appointment.
When you travel overseas, you should purchase your airline ticket with a good, travel type/airline credit card. I always use an American Express Platinum card to pay for my tickets. I'm completely covered for any medical problems which occur during my trip, which includes medivac if necessary (a medivac from some places can cost as much as $50,000).
If you did purchase your trip with a credit card, look at your card member agreement, or call the number on the back of the card and ask if you are covered for medical treatment required during travel.