Survey finds Y9.3 bil in insurance claims for 'beauty cream'

"I think there is a moral collapse among the patients. It is extremely problematic to purchase medicine using the medical insurance program for beauty purposes," the dermatologist said.

But the doctor added, "We cannot say no (to a prescription request) when the patient says he or she is having terribly dry skin.

Doesn't the doctor have the moral responsibility?

This will cost way more than the insurance amount because of wasted surgery time and the extra bureaucratic costs.

Its pathetic that people will go to the doctors and then a chemists just to save 800 yen on some moisturizer (assuming this is available OTC for the stated price).

After requesting the cream from her dermatologist, the woman was prescribed five tubes, without the doctor even asking about her symptoms.

Docters here in a nutshell. Never find the underlying cause, just "take these medicines and see if it helps". Kaching!

I’d bet my wife is personally responsible for about six billion of that total....

Oh wow, a celebrity endorsed this medicine, therefore it must be good to use on a daily basis... This is a medicated lotion, why would you use it if you dont have the symptoms it is prescribed for? Have you asked the doctor if it is OK to use on normal, non-problematic skin? Or whether it will cause problems down the track?

If that celebrity also endorsed Xanax would you start using it daily even if you dont have anxiety problems?

From October 2015 to September 2016, 39,312 prescriptions were made for men aged between 20 and 59, while 164,377 were for women in the same age bracket. 

Still, not that many people in the bigger picture of things. On the other hand, brown bag sales are up.

"I think there is a moral collapse among the patients."

Don't just single out the patients. This 'moral collapse' goes all the way to the top. Think about all the recent scandals in Japanese corporations falsifying safety reports and inspection data. Then add all people being forced to work stupid amounts of overtime. You could also add the ever-increasing cases of bullying and child abuse. This 'moral collapse' is much more widespread than just patients ripping off the health insurance system.

Perhaps they should have tried the following, which is far more effective as a beauty solution:

https://healthliferyu.jeunesseglobal.com/en-JP

Estimates :

9.3 billions claim to insurance companies

About 800 yens saved per tube

About 200 000 consumers (male and female) aged between 20 to 59 (why other age bracket would be excluded, will never know...)

Witht those figured, that makes roughly, that means over 50 tubes would be used supposedly by patients. Indeed something fishy even for no brainer.

Doctors are totally messed up and utterly incompetent if accepting words over facts.

Problem is at doctor system level, not insurer's.

We have actually been prescribed this medicine for our baby, and its a ridiculously hard to use lotion. It doesnt 'spread' far so you have to use quite a fair bit. I imagine those who are using it would be going through at least a tube every few days or a week at most.

Very shameful people. I despise all those ladies who only care about themselves.

The responsibility is with the professionals (doctors) not the patient. If there is fraud, the doctors are liable.

Insurance agencies are attempting to publicly blame the insurers to pass new restrictions with less rebuttal. The restrictions likely have little to do with this issue. I'd like to know what they are trying to pass even though it doesn't concern me (yet).