Japan’s health cost caps rise, widening gaps between insurers

Japan’s health care system is often held up abroad as a model of universal coverage. But universal does not mean uniform: patients undergoing the same expensive treatment can pay very different amounts out-of-pocket depending on which insurer they belong to — and the government’s latest reform will widen the gap. Under the high-cost medical expense benefit system, a ceiling is placed on the amount patients must shoulder themselves when they face large bills for surgery or other treatment, with public health insurance covering the remainder.