Japan's public and private insurance programs guarantee medical care for virtually all the nation's 126 million people at a cost lower than most industrial nations.
Most people pay premiums for health insurance and make co-payments for doctor visits.
But patients can go anywhere they want for treatment. The national health care program, however, has been deeply in the red the past eight years as Japan's population aged amid an economic slump and rising medical costs. The number of participants in the state-run medical insurance system fell to 19.68 million in 1998, down 1.4 percent from the previous year, according to the latest government statistics. The program is using up the remainder to make ends meet this year, leaving no more reserves to plug the growing hole. The government revised the insurance premium scale in 1997 to increase contributions, but the effect was short-lived.