Hospital Bill

Our assignment to Tokyo includes global health insurance provided by Ryan’s employer. We are not participating in the Japanese National Health Insurance but can receive services from doctors, clinics, or hospitals that are part of the national program. We pay the expenses ourselves and file a claim for reimbursement with our US based health insurance company. This is what we’ll do for Roo’s recent tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Going into it, we had no concrete information about the cost, but we did have a general gut feel. We initially thought we’d have to pay the bill prior to the hospital discharge, but while we were standing around waiting for someone to tell us where to pay, an English speaking nurse kindly explained that since we’re being discharged on a Sunday the bill will come to us in the mail. Today our curiosity was put to rest and we received a bill for 453,420Yen. At today’s exchange rate that is $4,944.16. I looked online and from what I can tell, this procedure in the United States would cost about $13,000. I understand without the detail of what’s included it’s hard to make a fair comparison. What I do know is that our bill includes a four night hospital stay in a private room in a modern facility that gives the impression everything clicks like clockwork. In the US we were told to expect the procedure to be outpatient requiring zero nights in the hospital. As America embarks on it’s journey towards a national health policy, I feel fortunate to have had the exposure to what success looks like. It can be done, and it can be done well.