A critical review of health services in Japan.

Japan was the first Asian country to introduce social insurance measures and it has expanded them during the last few decades. The first social insurance law was passed in 1922, dealing with worker’s health insurance, and it was followed by the National Health Insurance in 1938, Seamen’s Insurance in 1939, and Employees’ Pension Insurance in 1921. However, these were seldom widely available in actual practice because of the characteristics of public assistance which limited them to the poor. ∗PMID: 4258081 [PubMed indexed for MEDLINE] Copyright c ©OKAYAMA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL SCHOOL Acta Med. Okayama 25, 111-128 (1971) A CRITICAL REVIEW OF HEALTH SERVICES IN JAPAN Hideyasu AOYAMA, Keiji FURUICHI and Takeshi TAMAKI Department oj Hygiene, Okayama University Medital School Okayama, Japan (Director: Projessor M.Omra) Received jor publication, October 27 1970. Japan was the first Asian country to introduce social insurance measures and it has expanded them during the last few decades. The first social insurance law was passed in 1922, dealing with worker's health insurance, and it was followed by the National Health Insurance in 1938, Seamen's Insurance in 1939, and Employees' Pension Insurance in 1921. However, these were seldom widely available in actual practice because of the characteristics of public assistance which limited them to the poor. At the end of World War II, the new Constitution was promulgated. It stated the principle that comprehensive social insurance was a fundamental right of the people. Therefore, many types of social insurance were established as a response to the growing demand: Name of Social Insurance Workmen'S Compensation Insurance Unemployment Insurance National Public Service Mutual Aid Association Health Insurance for Daily Workers Private School Teachers and Employees Mutual Aid Association City, Town and Village Employees Mutual Aid Association Public Corporation Employees Mutual Aid Association Agricultural, Forestry, and Fishery Institution Employees Mutual Aid Association National Pension Local Pu blic Service Mutual Aid Association Year Instituted 1947 1947 1948 1953 1953