Japanese health insurance system and ‘Gensen Choshu’
All Japanese residents need to get registered in one of public health insurances, along with public pensions.
Japanese health insurance system is divided in, like public pension system, two parts -one for employees only and another for all the other residents.
- Employee Health Insurance (健康保険[Kenko Hoken]) : for employees in companies
- National Health Insurance (国民健康保険[Kokumin Kenko Hoken])：for other residents
Although Employee Health Insurance is further divided in subsystems, we don’t explain them and take it as a common system.
Employees pay the health insurance through “Gensen Choshu” system (For Gensen Choshu system please see this article). Employee Health Insurance is taken in the same way as taxes and pension, that are all withheld from employees’ salaries by their employers.
There is no lump-sum withdrawal payment for Japanese health insurances
Non Japanese employees can claim and receive Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments for their pension contributions, after they end their employments and leave Japan. Can they also claim and receive Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments for their health insurance contributions? –
Unfortunately there is no Lump-sum Withdrawal Payments for Japanese health insurances.
The reason why is that Japanese health insurances have a different contribution – payment system than the system of Japanese pensions.
If you are a member of Japanese health insurances, 70% of medical payments will be covered by health insurances and you only have to pay 30% of them to clinics or hospitals(*).
Japanese health insurances compensate their members for a great majority of medical payments. Their members’ contributions are used for this compensation and there is no payback even if you never go to clinic nor hospital. So non-Japanese also cannot receive any paybacks for their health insurance contributions(**).
(*) But except for a case that members ask for a non-standard treatment and medicine (more expensive than normal, or not for a sick but for an aesthetic reason). In such a case it is possible that they need to pay 100%.(**) But except for a case that they get a heavy sick or wound that needs a surgery and/or long hospitalization, and their medical payments get high. In such a case they can apply for “Self-pay Limit “system (高額医療費制度), that will pay back a considerable part of their payments afterwards.
For Detailed Information..
- Self-pay Limit (Japan Health Insurance Association, External Link)
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