Health Care Reforms in Japan and Canada in the 21st Century

Japan and Canada have basically similar health care systems of publicly funded and privately delivered, although the funding and delivery mechanisms in detail are slightly different. Both countries have experienced the common health care problems of rapid growth in health care costs, changes in disease structure from acute to chronic diseases, increasing demands for better-quality health care and greater choice and empowerment of patients. In this essay, I will briefly sketch the current health care systems in Japan and Canada and provide an overview of some current policy issues in them. It is based on my essay prepared for the Canada-Japan Social Policy Symposium held at Kwansei Gakuin University in June 2001 (1) and revised, taking the developments afterwards into account . Such comparative studies on the health care systems in the two important market economies across the Pacific will be useful not only foracademics but also for policymakers in considering the future health care reforms. I hope this brief essay will contribute to the development of comparative health care study in the two countries.