TY - JOUR
T1 - Future of Japan's system of good health at low cost with equity
T2 - Beyond universal coverage
AU - Shibuya, Kenji
AU - Hashimoto, Hideki
AU - Ikegami, Naoki
AU - Nishi, Akihiro
AU - Tanimoto, Tetsuya
AU - Miyata, Hiroaki
AU - Takemi, Keizo
AU - Reich, Michael R.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work is partly funded by the generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the China Medical Board and a research grant from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (H23-seisaku-shitei-033). We thank Tomoko Suzuki and Tadashi Yamamoto for their administrative support. The views expressed in this report are solely those of the authors.
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Japan's premier health accomplishment in the past 50 years has been the achievement of good population health at low cost and increased equity between different population groups. The development of Japan's policies for universal coverage are similar to the policy debates that many countries are having in their own contexts. The financial sustainability of Japan's universal coverage is under threat from demographic, economic, and political factors. Furthermore, a series of crises - both natural and nuclear - after the magnitude 9·0 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, has shaken up the entire Japanese social system that was developed and built after World War 2, and shown existing structural problems in the Japanese health system. Here, we propose four major reforms to assure the sustainability and equity of Japan's health accomplishments in the past 50 years - implement a human-security value-based reform; redefine the role of the central and local governments; improve the quality of health care; and commit to global health. Now is the time for rebirth of Japan and its health system.
AB - Japan's premier health accomplishment in the past 50 years has been the achievement of good population health at low cost and increased equity between different population groups. The development of Japan's policies for universal coverage are similar to the policy debates that many countries are having in their own contexts. The financial sustainability of Japan's universal coverage is under threat from demographic, economic, and political factors. Furthermore, a series of crises - both natural and nuclear - after the magnitude 9·0 Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, has shaken up the entire Japanese social system that was developed and built after World War 2, and shown existing structural problems in the Japanese health system. Here, we propose four major reforms to assure the sustainability and equity of Japan's health accomplishments in the past 50 years - implement a human-security value-based reform; redefine the role of the central and local governments; improve the quality of health care; and commit to global health. Now is the time for rebirth of Japan and its health system.
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U2 - 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61098-2
DO - 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)61098-2
M3 - Review article
C2 - 21885100
AN - SCOPUS:80053571085
SN - 0140-6736
VL - 378
SP - 1265
EP - 1273
JO - The Lancet
JF - The Lancet
IS - 9798
ER -