The Art of Balance in Health Policy: Maintaining Japan's Low-Cost, Egalitarian System

The Art of Balance in Health Policy: Maintaining Japan's Low-Cost, Egalitarian System
ISBN-10
0521571227
ISBN-13
9780521571227
Category
Medical
Pages
256
Language
English
Published
1998-09-13
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Authors
Naoki Ikegami, John Creighton Campbell

Description

Compared to the rest of the world, Japan has a healthy population but pays relatively little for medical care. This book analyses how the health care works, and how it came into being. Taking a comparative perspective, the authors describe the politics of health care, the variety of providers, the universal health insurance system, and how the fee-schedule constrains costs at both the macro and micro levels. Special attention is paid to issues of quality and to the difficult problems of assuring adequate high-tech medicine and long-term care. Although the authors discuss the drawbacks to Japan's stringent cost-containment policy, they also keep in mind the possible implications for reform in the United States. Egalitarian values and a concern for 'balance' among constituents, the authors argue, are essential for cost containment as well as for access to health care.

Similar books