Public views of health insurance in Japan during the era of attaining universal health coverage: a secondary analysis of an opinion poll on health insurance in 1967

• Main Authors: Ikuma Nozaki, Koji Wada, Osamu Utsunomiya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: PAGEPress Publications 2017-07-01
• Series: Journal of Public Health Research
• Subjects: Universal Health Coverage; Japan; Health Insurance
• Online Access: http://www.jphres.org/index.php/jphres/article/view/884

While Japan’s success in achieving universal health insurance over a short period with controlled healthcare costs has been studied from various perspectives, that of beneficiaries have been overlooked. We conducted a secondary analysis of an opinion poll on health insurance in 1967, immediately after reaching universal coverage. We found that people continued to face a slight barrier to healthcare access (26.8% felt medical expenses were a heavy burden) and had high expectations for health insurance (60.5% were satisfied with insured medical services and 82.4% were willing to pay a premium). In our study, younger age, having children before school age, lower living standards, and the health insurance scheme were factors that were associated with a willingness to pay premiums. Involving high-income groups in public insurance is considered to be the key to ensuring universal coverage of social insurance.