Does well:
- legal maternity leave for up to one year (and can be extended)
- you stay in hospital for at least five days (vaginal delivery) or seven (c-sections)
- all medical care and meds for children are free
- vaccination rates are high
Needs to improve:
- accessibility to epidurals
- all pregnancy/delivery costs should be included in the NHI
- genetic testing and some vaccines (RSV, for example) should be covered by the NHI
- childcare should be more accessible (not just working parents)
You get vouchers that take up most of the cost for tests and checkups—but I’ve sometimes had to pay out of pocket from a few hundred yen to a few thousand.
We also get a 500K voucher for the birth, and some are fully covered by it, but I had to pay for the induction, epidural, and the room (I requested a private one, which are pricier).
So basically, the vouchers cover the bare, bare minimum 😅
Our cost here in the US for a c-section was a bit over $70,000 USD before insurance, and about $12,000 USD that we actually had to pay after insurance paid their parts.
Comments
- legal maternity leave for up to one year (and can be extended)
- you stay in hospital for at least five days (vaginal delivery) or seven (c-sections)
- all medical care and meds for children are free
- vaccination rates are high
- accessibility to epidurals
- all pregnancy/delivery costs should be included in the NHI
- genetic testing and some vaccines (RSV, for example) should be covered by the NHI
- childcare should be more accessible (not just working parents)
You get vouchers that take up most of the cost for tests and checkups—but I’ve sometimes had to pay out of pocket from a few hundred yen to a few thousand.
So basically, the vouchers cover the bare, bare minimum 😅