Japan's Health Care Spending At Record

For the fiscal year 1996 ended March 1997, health care/medical servicesspending in Japan reached a record 26,400 billion yen ($212.28 billion) and showed an increase of 6% over the previous year, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

The MHW attributed the increase to greater spending for seniors (up 9.7% on the previous year) to 9,700 billion yen and accounting for nearly 37% of the total. Roughly 90% of medical spending was under health insurance outlays.

On a per capita basis, reports The Japan Times, medical expenses for seniors reached 778,000 yen, or around six times the 126,000 yen paid for policyholders of company-based health insurance schemes, and four times the outlays for health insurance for the self-employed and farmers.