June 25, 2008

  • Home alone

    I haven't mentioned this, but for the past 5 weeks, M has been in Japan. Her mother was diagnosed with Bronchioloalveolar carcinoma, a kind of lung cancer located in the small vessels of the lungs that function in the oxygenation of our blood (I think). Apparently it is most prevalent in nonsmokers, elderly women and Asians. This makes M's mother three for three, not the kind of batting average you want when dealing with the big C.

    Fortunately, they found the disease early and the doctors determined it was operable, even though she's over 80. M went to Japan to help her mother through the operation and for post-op recovery. By all accounts, the operation was successful, and we are, for the time being, relieved. The main issue now is the cost of the operation. Not that we are averse to helping M's mother out, but we did learn recently that the cost is based on a new system of health insurance in Japan.

    後期高齢者医療制度 Kouki koureisha iryou seido

    The new system specifically for the elderly can be literally translated as "Medical system for latter term elderly." This is a health insurance program that is independent from the regular universal health care available in Japan. It is targeted specifically at those who are 75 years of age or older. It is, in other words, a system for those who have lived longer than the regular system can afford to maintain them. Enrollment and premiums are mandatory for all residents and there is now a 10% co-payment for any and all health care treatment that used to be virtually free for those over 65. As you might imagine, there is quite an uproar in Japan among its silver citizens. According to a friend who visited recently, cries of "Do you want to have us die?" fill the airwaves.

    There are lots of issues that people point to--long average life span, low birth rate, immigration or lack thereof. It is so complicated, I could never imagine wanting to be a Japanese politician. How do you deal with immigration in a country that believes and prides itself on its racial homogeneity? Do you make people get married and make more babies by what? By threatening to take away their free and consumer oriented lifestyle? Even targeting the elderly is political suicide as the elderly are the most likely to vote on election day. What a mess.

    The good news is that the Japanese health care system is not the monster it is in the US. Medical and pharmiceutical costs are reasonable, and helping M's mother foot the bill, while unexpected, is not a major burden. Thank God for small favors.

    But more than anything else, I miss my wife. She's been gone since the third week of May, and I miss her. She is coming home tomorrow, but now I have to do five weeks worth of house cleaning and laundry. Yikes! I'll be happy to see her tomorrow when I pick her up at the airport, but I'll probably be too exhausted to even give her a hug.

    Postscript

    Thanks to Booyahman for recommending my last post, The death of seven dirty words.
    It was picked up by a few others who also recommended it, resulting in
    more visitors than I have had in a long while. Much appreciation.

    Post-postscript

    Sometimes, these horoscopes can be so uncanny. No, no, no, I don't read them for advice, just for fun. No, really...

    Wednesday, Jun 25, 2008

    You should be in a fairly hard-working frame of mind right now, and
    you'll probably be perfectly willing to deal with any responsibilities
    you might have at this time.     You should be willing to be as supportive
    as possible right now. And if your family ends up requiring a bit of
    your attention today, you should be happy to do whatever you can for
    them.

    A
    lot will probably be expected of you today, and you might be called
    upon to be of service to a variety of different people before the day
    is through. You’re likely to be getting along well with your family and
    will probably feel like spending a lot of time around the house right
    now. And there may be quite a few things that will need to be dealt
    with on the home front today.

Comments (9)

  • There are indeed a lot of complaints over here about ditching free health care for the elderly.  Seems like it would be better to help sick old people than build highways and bridges to nowhere, but who I am to question how to question how the Japanese government spends all that tax money?

  • Best wishes to M's mom on a great recovery--she sounds pretty amazing to go through such a major trauma at her age! The fact they caught the cancer at such an early stage that it was operable is very encouraging; lung cancer is notoriously difficult to detect because the symptoms are so generalized.

  • hope your mother in law recovers well and that M comes back soon. 

    this info re japan's health care system is very informative.  many of our clients who are japanese citizens living in the US keep their japanese citizenship solely based on the healthcare benefits.  now i can see why.  even this change for people over 75 isn't all that bad compared to our system (or lack thereof).

  • I can see how you'd miss your wife.  That's a long time. :(   All the best to you, your wife, and your mom-in-law.

  • well, on the bright side, now you have the perfect opportunity for some home alone fun à la Risky Business.  silver linings, right?

  • We deal with lots of 後期高齢者医療 issues at the city hall.  I personally find the term 後期高齢者 a bit offensive, but in any case, I think one reason why so many people are up in arms is that the government first tried to pass this new system off as an improvement.  There was all this information on how the insurance system for the elderly is going to be much simpler and easier and more efficient.  Then everyone realized that it was basically all just a big, confusing hike in premiums.  Oops.  It may be fiscally nessisary, but no one likes it when the government tries to trick them. 

    All the best to your mother-in-law.

  • I wouldn't want to be a Japanese politican. Or any politican, for that matter. You have to please way too many people and make so many negotiations and compromises! I hope the operation went successfully!

    Being in the house... how does it feel? I'm sure you're not stuck there all day, but lately I've found that being there fore more than 3 hours makes me irritable and really pessmisitic. This probably explains why I'm going to keep attending my biology class even though I don't like it. At least I can get out and stretch my legs.

  • i hope your M's mom has a successful operation and quick recovery.

    the ever-burgeoning elderly population is going to be a very big issue as time passes, it seems like it already is in japan, which is why they started this new system?  my understanding is the low birth-rate, longer lifespan, and the resulting demographic shift from younger to older people as being a major contributor... not enough young people making money / saving / paying into a system which will take care not only themselves in the future but the present elderly population.  it is a worry.  i wonder if there is a better way to do this.  i mean, what will happen to people who have no savings left, the poor amongst the elderly who can't pay that co-payment, even?

    no thanks needed!  i am an onigiri-fan after all! =)

  • Oh wow  I usually read my horoscopes at the end of the day and am sometimes amazed at how true some of them ring.

    I hope all works out with M's mother and that she recovers well after all this... hopefully you're about done with housework :)

    It is a surprise that healthcare costs in Japan are not sky high when most of their other products and food are. It's really too bad that Japan has found itself in a hole where probably the only realistic way out was to adopt such policy.

    I can only hope this policy does not inspire our lawmakers over here...

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