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Published in: Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation 1/2023

Open Access 01-12-2023 | Editorial

Generic drug crisis in Japan and changes leading to the collapse of universal health insurance established in 1961: the case of Kobayashi Kako Co. Ltd.

Authors: Makoto Kosaka, Akihiko Ozaki, Yudai Kaneda, Hiroaki Saito, Erika Yamashita, Anju Murayama, Hanano Mamada, Tetsuya Tanimoto, Mihajlo Jakovljevic

Published in: Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation | Issue 1/2023

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Excerpt

Japan established a national health insurance scheme in 1961, and thanks to this, all the Japanese population have equal access to decent medical care by paying only 10–30% of the medical cost from their own pocket basically, depending on the person's age [1]. An overlooked consequence was ever-increasing healthcare costs. With the advancement of medical technology and a fast-aging society, Japan’s healthcare cost has kept rising, exceeding 44 trillion JPY in 2019, which calls for an overhaul of its health insurance scheme [2]. However, the Japanese government failed to offer a fundamental solution and instead took a temporary measure in 2015 to encourage the use of generic drugs. …
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Metadata
Title
Generic drug crisis in Japan and changes leading to the collapse of universal health insurance established in 1961: the case of Kobayashi Kako Co. Ltd.
Authors
Makoto Kosaka
Akihiko Ozaki
Yudai Kaneda
Hiroaki Saito
Erika Yamashita
Anju Murayama
Hanano Mamada
Tetsuya Tanimoto
Mihajlo Jakovljevic
Publication date
01-12-2023
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Cost Effectiveness and Resource Allocation / Issue 1/2023
Electronic ISSN: 1478-7547
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12962-023-00441-z

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