The picture I uploaded to this blog post is the actual social health care plan that Obama is trying to force feed to the American people. Pretty confusing; right? I can only guess as to how much it is going to cost tax payers. I can imagine that Japan`s social health plan is just as big and more than likely cost twice as much as Obama`s plan. None the less, my crazy ass pays into Japan`s social health care plan. I do not do this willing mind you. It is one of those carrot on a stick situations. Either I pay into the social health care so I can get a permanent visa down the road, or not pay it and let the Japanese government give me a hard time later. Well, I have pretty much made Japan my home so here I am paying into this damn social health care crap.
After paying into the system for some time now, I have finally been taking advantage of other people`s money. Over the past month I have been making regular visits to the `no pain` doctor. He is a dentist who promises effective pain free treatment. So far he has lived up to the `no pain` part. Yet I am wondering why every time I go he does very little work in my teeth. It has taken him a month to complete a root canal on one tooth. I am starting to wonder if he is taking advantage of the system. I mean, if I was paying out of pocket I am sure he would not be taking this long. I have had a root canal before and it took only one day to complete. It was much more painful but completed much faster. Due to the social health care system, I have lost the ability to complain about the length of time he is taking to complete work on one tooth. So, I cannot complain much because my in-person out of pocket cost is very low. In the mean time, he is making a killing on the tax payers dime taking his slow ass time to get anything done.
After every treatment he shows me what he did; which is not much. He works on only one small part of the root canal at a time. Why can`t he get the whole damn thing finished in one treatment? Well, I know why. It is trying to make as much money as he can. I guess I will just put up this his little money making game. He is the only Japanese dentist I know who can speak English well enough to communicate with me.
7 comments:
The system in Japan is regulated such that work has to be done in a particular way. He is following some set method of doing the work as the government proscribes.
I don't like this way of stringing out the work either, but it's better than having no insurance or paying a ton.
What I do not understand is why do they tax me and then give the money back to me? It would be better if I just keep my money in the first place. When doctor`s compete for business everyone wins.
Note that the health care plan "design" is a bit of right wing bullshit that has nothing to do with any plan put forth by Obama. There is no "plan" that Obama has put forth (which may be why he is in such a mess) but he has left it to Congress to create the plan.
Well, I really do not want to get into this too deeply with you. Reason being, when anyone mentions right/left it tells me they believe there is a difference. I understand that there is no real difference between right/left policies.
GOP and DP are just two management teams fighting for control of the same company. The agenda does not change much; only who controls it.
As for me, I am on the side of `keep the government out of my life.`
"Why do they tax me and then give the money back to me?"
If you are being taxed at the right level, there is no way you're getting back as much as you pay in. When I was working full-time, I paid about 300,000 yen a year in health insurance to the Japanese government, and I have gone to the dentist on their dime about 4 times and the doctor, maybe twice. I'd guess that I've put well over 2 million yen into the Japanese government's hands and gotten about 1/10 of that in use out of it (at the very, very most).
If you haven't filed an income tax return, you may be assessed improperly and only paying base amounts on your health insurance (something like 12,000-14,000 yen a year). If that is the case (and that does happen since foreigners at language schools are often not informed about such matters intentionally), then it may seem that you are getting back what you paid in.
For most of us though, we pay far more than we use so that all the grannies and grampies and people with kids can run to the doctor every time they stub a toe while paying little to nothing in taxes. Still, it's not really all that different than the U.S. if you aren't covered by health insurance at your job. People who pay privately in the U.S. also pay a ton for their insurance and don't get much back from it unless they have a catastrophic crisis (and then the insurance companies dig for "pre-existing conditions" to try and not pay for treatment).
There are no perfect solutions to health insurance or medical coverage. There are only ones that some people prefer over others based on their worldview. Generally the people who have never had to deal with a health issue while uninsured favor the current status quo in America and those who have had such issues would like a change. It's a classic "haves" and "have nots" difference in view.
@Orchid64
I filed my taxes here in Japan so I understand what you mean by paying much more than you get back. In fact, I am paying a shit load of money to the Japanese government and getting very little return on my investment. I could go the dentist everyday for a year and still not break even. It just seems like a scam to me. It seems like a much better idea to just let me keep my money while letting the doctors fight it out for customers.
@Joe
BOY! Go back to masturbating in the bathroom to your imported Japanese comic books. Your 18 so you don`t know a damn thing about paying for anything.
@Joe
Don`t worry kid. You stand up for yourself so I like you.
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