Abstract
The transformation of Japan’s status in the world and the Japanese people’s concept of the state in the late 1930s and the early 1940s created an environment that brought a transformation of Japan’s medical insurance systems. The drastic change started with the establishment of the National Health Insurance and culminated in major amendments to the existing laws and the enactment of new laws, which were the harbinger of a new epoch in Japanese healthcare. This chapter explicates the significances of these 1942 reforms. These reforms were marked not only by demand-side but also by supply-side changes. This drastic change resulted in a system of quasi-public assistance , rather than “insurance” as such. The reforms to the medical insurance programs in Japan during this era heralded a new epoch.
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- 1.
Insurance physicians are those physicians who agree to consult with patients covered by medical insurances.
- 2.
“Inland people” refers to the Japanese people of the country of Japan, not people of other ethnicities in Japanese colonies such as Taiwan and Korea.
- 3.
The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was a para-fascist public organization established under the second Konoye Fumimaro cabinet in October 1940. That organization replaced all political parties—they were simply dissolved and their memberships compelled to join this association.
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Sugita, Y. (2019). Japan’s Epoch-Making Healthcare Reforms of 1942: Toward Universal Health Coverage. In: Japan's Shifting Status in the World and the Development of Japan's Medical Insurance Systems. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1660-9_5
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