Medical coverage in Japan

[Cyborg Ninja]

Wow, you know how to crush someone's dreams without any regard for their feelings. I wish I had your spirit.

Edit: Not that that was your intention. I'm just a little bit sensitive about the subject matter.

[chikara]

Sorry if I offended you. That certainly wasn't my intention. I believe however that there is no point in kidding yourself about the realities of moving to Japan to live.

I am not totally insensitive to your situation as I can not get income protection insurance due to a pre-existing medical condition.

Edit: Not sure what "income protection insurance" is called in the USA. Salary continuance? Unemployment insurance?

[Dehitay]

chikara wrote:
Sorry if I offended you. That certainly wasn't my intention. I believe however that there is no point in kidding yourself about the realities of moving to Japan to live.

I am not totally insensitive to your situation as I can not get income protection insurance due to a pre-existing medical condition.

Edit: Not sure what "income protection insurance" is called in the USA. Salary continuance? Unemployment insurance?

it's called Social Security here and it's a hot topic. A lot of people have gotten damn lazy and don't even bother getting a job once they get it. Fortunately those kind of people are also too lazy to vote. People like me pay at least 5 times as much as we'll ever get back out of the system. You can imagine the annoyance.

[chikara]

Dehitay wrote:
it's called Social Security here and it's a hot topic. A lot of people have gotten damn lazy and don't even bother getting a job once they get it. Fortunately those kind of people are also too lazy to vote. People like me pay at least 5 times as much as we'll ever get back out of the system. You can imagine the annoyance.

If I understand social security in the USA correctly it is different to "income protection insurance". We have "unemployment benefits" (aka "the dole") here which is money paid fortnightly by the government to people without jobs. The people you describe are called "dole bludgers".

Income protection insurance would pay me 75% of my current income for a period of x years if I am unable to work because of illness. The greater x is the higher the premium.

[Dehitay]

oh, we don't have anything like that. The idea of somebody getting so sick that they could miss their job for even so much as a month is a new concept to me. If you have some kind of long term ailment that prevents you from working, I think the only 2 options are tough it out or get laid off and go on social security's welfare. However, we do have something called workman's compensation for long term physical injury, but it's provided by the company you're working for and not the government.

[Infidel]

There is such thing as Unemployment Insurence, but it is privatly funded. It is often a requirement for covering a debt, such as when buying a house, it's not unusual for a creditor to require Unemployment Insurence. Usually it is bought to cover a specific debt, but I'm sure there is a generic Unemployment Insurence available out there from some company or another.

Rykk

[keatonatron]

Dehitay wrote:
oh, we don't have anything like that. The idea of somebody getting so sick that they could miss their job for even so much as a month is a new concept to me.

Um, ever heard of "disability"?

As in, "I'm on disability"?

[Harisenbon]

This is a long thread, and I may have missed the answer having already been said somewhere... BUT

as far as getting a visa with a terminal / uncurable illness:

Because your visa is (normally) sponsored by a company bringing you into Japan, whether or not the Japanese government says it's ok to come to Japan, if the company you work for says "this guy is just going to come in and be sick all the time" they're not going to go through the hassle of getting you a visa.

When I came here I had to get a physical before I got sponsered for my visa, and they were very clear that if I had an illness that would affect my work ability, they would fine someone else.

[keatonatron]

Harisenbon wrote:
they would fine someone else.

I like that approach. You fail, and someone else gets punished.

[Harisenbon]

keatonatron wrote:

Harisenbon wrote:
they would fine someone else.

I like that approach. You fail, and someone else gets punished.

You know.. I was pretty sure I spell checked that... *sigh*

[Mike Cash]

"Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard: surgery"

[keatonatron]

Harisenbon wrote:
You know.. I was pretty sure I spell checked that... *sigh*

It's possible. 'Fine' was spelled correctly you know. :p

[AJBryant]

"Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard: surgery"

"Dr. Prang will not be performing surgery today. He went messhuga."



Tony

[richvh]

Mike Cash wrote:
"Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard: surgery"

Darn it, it took me 4 hours to get the reference. And I grew up watching Moe, Larry and Curly on TV.

[Cyborg Ninja]

Well I don't consider myself unable to work. I just have a lot of medication and tests to take, occasionally surgery. Once I become cheerful again this won't be a problem. So I don't plan on applying for disability. Even if I did, it's very difficult to get in the US. My mom had end-stage cirrhosis and still didn't get it.

Is Welfare part of Social Security? I think that Welfare is the controversial thing you were talking about. People who have trouble getting jobs are covered under Welfare in the US for a limited amount of time. Social Security I know includes money for retired people (after a certain age, it keeps going up) and the disabled (or who the bureaucracy is forced to consider disabled after a long court battle).