The new medical prices are out.
Last week, after more than a year of intense deliberations among various stakeholders, a panel under the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry released a long list of changes to the nation’s medical fees.
The fee review, which takes place every two years, has been a major policy tool for the government and shows the direction of the nation’s health care as the population grays and medical needs surge and diversify.
Under the national public health insurance scheme, the government controls the prices of all procedures performed and medications prescribed by hospitals and clinics. By tweaking fees here and there — and thereby offering or robbing financial incentives for specific procedures — the government wants to keep the nation’s health care costs from shooting through the roof while meeting new needs to provide quality services in high-priority areas such as cancer and dementia.
Patients, though they have little direct say in this policymaking process, are inevitably affected. Every resident of Japan is required to join the public health insurance program and pay monthly premiums; in exchange, they are entitled to receive care by shouldering up to 30 percent of the cost at the hospitals and clinics they visit.
Will take effect nationwide on April 1.
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