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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.

Medical care --- J4217 --- J4575 --- J7910 --- Delivery of health care --- Delivery of medical care --- Health care --- Health care delivery --- Health services --- Healthcare --- Medical and health care industry --- Medical services --- Personal health services --- Public health --- Cost control --- Finance --- Japan: Sociology and anthropology -- social policy and pathology -- sanitation and public health --- Japan: Economy and industry -- finance -- insurance --- Japan: Science and technology -- medical science -- public health and general hygiene --- Social Sciences --- Political Science --- Finance. --- Cost control.