Health Policy Manag.  2021 Mar;31(1):17-23. 10.4332/KJHPA.2021.31.1.17.

Choices of Medical Services and Burden of Health Care Costs: Japanese Prohibition of Mixed Treatment in Health Care

• Oh EH

• KMID: 2514658
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4332/KJHPA.2021.31.1.17

Abstract

With the introduction of national health insurance, the burden of health care costs decreased and choices of medical services widened. However, because of the rapid expansion of non-covered medical services by health insurance, financial security for health care expenditure is still low. This gives patients barriers to choose medical services especially for non-covered medical services, and it becomes narrower. Compared to Korea, Japan has high financial protection in health care utilization, but there exists a limitation using covered and non-covered medical services both together. This is called a prohibition of mixed treatment in health care. This study reviews the Japanese health care system that limits choosing medical services and the burden of health care costs. The prohibition of mixed treatment can alleviate the out-of-pocket burden in the non-benefit sector, but it can be found that it has a huge limitation in that it places restrictions on choices for both healthcare professionals and patients.

Keyword

Choice of medical service; Non-covered medical services; Burden of health care cost; Health care system; Mixed treatment