Japan's health-insurance program is touted as being egalitarian, with treatment available at any medical institution in the nation to those people who pay monthly insurance premiums and 30 percent of their medical treatment, including diagnoses, tests and prescriptions.
Everyone who pays a premium has a stake in this system. Of the approximately 30 trillion yen yen that Japan spends on health care every year, about half is financed by monthly premiums. Not surprisingly, in a 2003 Cabinet Office opinion poll, Japanese citizens cited health and health care issues as their No. 1 concern.
But how many people actually know who decides medical fees and what is covered by national health insurance? The answer is very few.