Japan has a "single-payer" health care system that is almost exactly what the Democrats in America would like to build here, and it's extremely disturbing (but not surprising) to read about the graft, favoritism, and corruption endemic to their system.
So my parents have the more expensive national health care for business owners (Dad pays higher taxes), Kokumin Hoken — Citizens’ Health Insurance; the lesser one is for ordinary salaryman, Shykai Hoken — Society Health Insurance. In addition, they have not one but two private health insurance plans, a primary and a supplementary. On top of that, my mother’s brother is a high-ranking official at a major hospital in Japan.But Mom is not so foolish as to rely upon such insecure health-care planning as that; she has a back-up system that she also uses…
After such nice treatment as she got for her knee and her stomach, my mother never forgets to send “gifts,” typically cash and premium liquor to the doctors, expensive chocolate to the nurses — and of cours, something extra special to my uncle, her brother. She was laughing that after her hospitalization, she spent more money on gifts than the actual medical bill. That means over thousand dollars of, let’s be honest, bribery.
Wonderful. The national health-care system works!
Read the whole thing, and pray that the Democrats aren't foolish enough to continue down the path they're on.
