COVID-19 patients to pay for most treatments after status downgrade

Call me old fashioned but, if patients are not up to date with vaccines, and have not followed other governmental guidelines, should they not be expected to pay fully for treatment?

Good. Covid-19 is no longer an emergency, nor a pandemic.

In Japan, COVID-19 is currently designated as a special category equivalent to or stricter than Class 2, which covers infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, under the law.

With the exception of initial consultation fees, patients are currently not charged for outpatient care or hospitalization.

So, what this is stating here is that everyone who has been hospitalized with COVID so far, has been so, through tax payers money being used for their care.

While hospitalization expenses are to be paid out-of-pocket after the classification downgrade, they will be covered under a system which caps the amount to be paid each month, with the ceiling to be further lowered by up to 20,000 yen.

So, what is the point of all of us being required BY LAW to carry health insurance? The way this is written here, is that anyone who gets COVID and needs to be hospitalized, will have to pay 100% out of pocket for their hospitalization.

But they will be subsidized up to just how much?

The information provided in this article is useless!

COVID-19 patients to pay for most treatments

So government can spend budget on defense

Wow, all that talk of "protecting others" and "taking other people's needs into account". I guess it really meant nothing, huh? How sad. Three plus years of insane spending and they've got nothing to show for it, aside from an economy where people prioritize the buying of masks over just about every other commodity aside from food I guess.

The best experts of the world 

Edit this to "The experts my employers approve of" and you might be closer to telling the truth. The consensus you keep banging on about is as real as Harry Potter, but less believable.

Will not be purchasing another mask, vaccine or covid test ever again. Absolute waste of money. Medical industry have been the robber barons of the last 3 years

Except for the worse cases, people will remain at home.

If the government is letting itself off the responsility of having to pay for Covid treatment, I feel like it could do a lot more to ensure that mask wearing is a personal choice. I notice that most companies are continuing to require staff to wear masks.

Covid is either serious or it’s not - it can’t be both ways.

Right now it feels like we’re getting all the downsides to covid being reclassified without any of the upsides.

Call me old fashioned but, if patients are not up to date with vaccines, and have not followed other governmental guidelines, should they not be expected to pay fully for treatment?

So should you, as someone who struggles with obesity due to a self-admittedly unhealthy lifestyle, bear more medical costs than someone who isn't based on your past decisions?

Personal responsibility, where individuals are responsible for the consequences of their choices, existed long before this whole mess.

Paytients to pay for Covid medical treatment because of down-grading?!

Is Japan so poor that it cannot afford to maintain its public health without asking the people to pay 25 yen for Covid treatment because of down-grading ?

Glad to see us slowly putting this monster behind us.

I can see where this can lead. Good that the virus has been downgraded and is not a super threat but the paranoia will still be masked to the teeth. Hopefully they will have medication to treat Covid as vaccine are not working well it appears

They are triple dangerous. First they let it all into the country, then they do nothing against spreading exempt of some unfitting vaccinations, masks of lowest efficiency kind and cheap unreliable nasal testing and from now on I have potentially to pay for their failures from money that I don’t even have if I ever should catch it? They are completely crazy and disgusting and someone has to tell that in clear simple words to those irresponsible and brainless people.

I notice that most companies are continuing to require staff to wear masks.

It seems like companies where the main part of their staff's duties is to interact with customers are continuing to ask their staff to wear masks. I think they are basically waiting to see what most of their customers do before changing the rules for the staff - if most customers turn up without masks, then they will allow their staff to make a choice. If the customers continue to wear masks for the most part, then the staff will also be required to wear them. At my place, they just said it's up to us now.

we cannot run from Covid it’s hear to stay and yet still after almost entire Japan catching Covid are still convinced that masks are effective baffles me

strange,virus still killing people here.

very unfair to infected people.they are paying same insurance costs as before!

A perfect recipe for people not to go to hospital when they have the slightest symptoms...

Will not be purchasing another mask, vaccine or covid test ever again. Absolute waste of money. Medical industry have been the robber barons of the last 3 years

I stopped wearing face masks months ago.

I stopped wearing face masks months ago.

I haven't worn one in a year, as there has been no request nor requirement for the local government here for over a year.

But if they asked me to put on one again, I've got a box in the cupboard. And I'd wear them.

It's always about the money here.

Elvis is hereToday  06:57 am JST

Call me old fashioned but, if patients are not up to date with vaccines, and have not followed other governmental guidelines, should they not be expected to pay fully for treatment?

ELVIS has left the building and so should you!

There is no need to keep reporting COVID cases daily anymore as it has more of a negative effect than positive. Let's just finally move on, Japan.

"Currently, medical expenses for COVID-19 treatment are fully covered by public funds in principle, but the government will reduce the public coverage for reasons including fairness to patients with other diseases. According to Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry estimates, people younger than 70, who are required to pay 30% of their health care costs out of pocket, currently pay a total of about ¥2,590 out of pocket for their first medical examination before COVID-19 testing and other treatment. After the classification of COVID-19 is lowered to Category V, the copayment of patients will be increased to ¥3,710 to ¥4,170, the same level as for seasonal influenza."

After the classification of COVID-19 is lowered to Category V, the copayment of patients will be increased to ¥3,710 to ¥4,170, the same level as for seasonal influenza."

This is meaningless, as it says nothing about just what a person is paying for here. Is it as an outpatient? Inpatient? Treatment? What?

Not to mention there is nothing supplied to support it, and "according to me" it is just as useless as any other comments about costs, that have nothing to back it up with.

Yubaru

you can look online for the details. That will be 30% as an outpatient. Hospital stays cost more.

people will the 30% or 20% of the costs excluding drugs.

Good.

There is no political or scientific reason not to have the policy align with other similar illnesses like influenza.

You pay for your own treatment if you have influenza, how is covid any different beyond being statistically worse (but still very low risk)? Just like influenza - stay at home if you’re sick, wear a mask if you suspect you’re infected/there’s a seasonal high/you’re at risk and take your seasonal vaccines if you yourself are in or are in close regular contact with an at-risk group. Influenza also kills people, and it seems Covid is approaching the levels of other seasonal viruses in terms of contributing to mortality.

The cost for Covid treatment will be a little less than the charges for flu.

Call me old fashioned but, if patients are not up to date with vaccines, and have not followed other governmental guidelines, should they not be expected to pay fully for treatment?

> > > does this apply to those who have been medically advised not to get vaccinated?

Call me old fashioned but, if patients are not up to date with vaccines, and have not followed other governmental guidelines, should they not be expected to pay fully for treatment?

> does this apply to those who have been medically advised not to get vaccinated?

Post you quoted says ..and have not followed other govt guidelines

Why am I paying so much for health coverage here?

Japanese health insurance is much less than American private healthcare. There are no medical bankruptcies.

The larger sector in the US for bankruptcies is the medical ones. Private healthcare does not cover all healthcare needs.

My American brother was shocked at how cheap my cancer op was. $1200 compared with $10,000 in the US.

wallaceMar. 13  08:11 pm JST

Japanese health insurance is much less than American private healthcare. There are no medical bankruptcies.

No. I pay less for health insurance in the US than what I pay in Japan.

And I would never have a major operation in Japan if I could avoid it.

Why would an American living in Japan paying compulsory healthcare also pay for American health insurance?

The average health insurance in the US for a family is $25,000 and does not cover all points of healthcare. The average premium for single coverage in 2022 is $7,911 per year.

For reference, the highest premiums (for high-income earners, not average or low earners!) is approximately 900,000/year in Tokyo but 400,000 yen/year in Chiba.

I had a major cancer op and can recommend the treatment for anyone needing it. I was cared for by an excellent medical team. The cost was less than one-tenth of it would have cost in the US.

Another reason to home and away from restaurants and other public places.