ハワイで愛犬とセミリタイア生活写真日記

collagen plugs which block the natural drainage of tears from the eye through the punctum for treating my dry eye today.
If these work well on my eyes then I will have Punctal silicone plugs .
So far, it's hard to say whether my eyes feel any different.
My eyes are very tired from all the tests I had today though.

I googled and found the Punctal silicone plugs surgery cost $200 and $70 out of pockets with Japanese national health insurance plan in Japan.

In US, it will be $600+ and it will be covered by most insurance companies. In my case, $50 co-pays each visit.
I just had to pay the specialist rate co-pay.
I had to do this 3 times. (Total=$150)
Today’s exam+ collagen plugs visit, on a follow-up visit and for silicone plugs, on a follow-up visit.
The first two visits were considered "surgical", although there isn't any actual surgery involved.
He just put in some numbing drops and then pop the plugs in.

It’s seems, over all, it is cheaper to get medical treatment in Japan than US even without any insurance.
Also, Japanese veterinarians charge far less than American.

In Japan, a medical school is an integral part of a university’s　undergraduate program. Programs are generally 6 years.

The standard U.S. medical school curriculum is four years long that usually starts after obtaining an undergraduate degree.
You have to spend more time and more tuition to become an American doctor.
Maybe that is the one of reasons American doctors charge more for their service than Japanese doctors.

The Health care system in Japan provides healthcare services with the patient accepting responsibility for 30% of these costs while the government pays the remaining 70%.
For the catastrophic health care charges, the government picking up the tab over 83,400yen ($970)/month.

Japanese health system has many problems also.
More than 14,000 emergency patients were rejected at least three times by Japanese hospitals before getting treatment.
Some unfortunate people had to die in the ambulance because hospitals rejected them.

I hope US Senate health committees have learned from Japanese mistakes.