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

Compared to the rest of the world, Japan has a healthy population but pays relatively little for medical care. Taking a comparative perspective, the authors describe the politics of health care in Japan, the variety of providers, the universal health insurance system, and how the fee schedule constrains costs. Special attention is paid to issues of quality, to the difficult problems of assuring adequate high-tech medicine and long-term care, and to possible lessons for the United States.