American politician: Healthcare in Japan sucks

Taiwan has a much better health care system. Take a look in the health statistics.

Or read that these:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/countries/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/interviews/reinhardt.html

or uk..thats famous for waiting lists

in the uk could wait 6 months to even be diagnosed ( after lots of hassle) for a critical illness that requires fast treatment ( “oh if only we had diagnosed this earlier” “sorry”)… Japan I find very speedy by contrast..and there is access to stuff if you push for it; in the uk even you push no chance or a very long wait after wait, hurdle after hurdle…etc,etc,etc….

…i know Japanese that work in the NHS in the uk and would make the trip from the Uk to Japan for dentist treatment, even simple treatment as their view of dentists in the uk is so bad. In addition the uk dentists also comment in awe “where did you get your dental work done?”…yeah right like i going to let you touch my mouth after comments like that.

No, she’s full on crazy.

your mindset of “defender of japan”,—-an interesting phrase.

So when someone tries to present more plausible picture of, say, the U.S, does s/he have the mindset of “defender of the U.S.”?

…but for those actually curious as to her background since although she made an ignorant comment, she is still a congressional member, i think even a simple wikipedia link would have been more useful than some messy troll blog about her.

No. The link is appropriate. She is key example of the US political class of corn-pone nazis that have slithered their way into office via fear-mongering and pandering to the know-nothing tea-bagger segment.

There’s noting wrong with the quality of dental care in Japan.

…when compared to the US in the 1970s. There fixed it for ya.

most Japanese dentists are very well trained, and often travel to Sweden and the U.S. for seminars

Most? Very unlikely.

For all of the positives about Japans medical coverage of ~100% of citizens, this does not extend to dental care. Take some time to explore what serious dental work can and can not be covered by typical health insurance in Japan. What is covered is generally stuff that has been mostly abandoned decades ago in the US and elsewhere. Latest dental technologies and procedures are paid out of pocket and often at absurd markup (as the supplies may have no approval or marketer in Japan and thus imported for personal use).

there is nothing wrong with Japanese dental…Japanese are just less vain about many of the cosmetic aspect of dental work (which is what pays the most often) and maybe due to less really sugary things in Japan, there are less issues with things like cavities.

アメリカ人って一般的な言い方はやめてもらえないかな？全員の国民を一言に絞るのがよくないと思います。この記事の女性が言ってる事はおかしいですよね、それはもちろん認めます。でも日本のテレビも同じような番組も出してるんじゃないですか？

外国に行ったことのない人か、最低限でも外国を理解しようとしてたことのない人が他国のことを棚から落として、他国の批判をするのがホンマに好きなんだな。

The US is a leader in terms of latest-generation treatments, products, and quality if care, but an utter laggard in terms of access. Self-interested and dishonest politicians like the above conflate those two separate concepts to confuse voters.

Write to her and tell her she’s misinformed. None of her assistants are going to do it.

No kidding. I think one of the most telling points was Limbaugh talking on his show after going to the hospital for chest pains, and talking about how he was able to receive high quality health care with no insurance. And that people should stop complaining about the cost of health care, because they could afford it if the wanted to–after all, his visit to the doctor only cost him about what an average mid-sized SUV cost. Thus, implying that it’s perfectly natural that someone should be able to spend $25K on doctors expenses at any time, and if they don’t, well, it’s because they didn’t budget well.

That’s not the issue. Most Americans do want to have a proper healthcare reform, but not the one that Obama and the Dems want to shove down everyone’s throats. So by your logic, all that oppose Obama have could never possibly have a clue about what is good for them, we are all dumb and should follow the European mantra, right.
We have 300 million people+ and there is no way, NO WAY that we can afford to pay for everyone even if Obama takes money from the affluent 3% of Americans, how will that take care of an entire nation, with the debt that we have, the trillions of dollars that Obama is spending day by day. The country has a 10% unemployment and on top of all that, we have to pay for Obama care that he and the Dems want to shove down peoples throat?
This is the reason why you are slowly starting to see growing opposition across the country against this Presidents policy.
This is just the beginning. Wait until November, there is another revolution brewing. There are ways healthcare can be reformed without totally bankrupting the nation.

Absurd claims that “Japan-bashing” is the “best tool” for US politicians seems to be the best tools of Japanese who suffer from chronic persecution complex.

This guy says the U.S. is an ideal target for Brits.

“The BBC’s Radio 4, which is a domestic news and talk radio station, regularly laments Britain’s social warts and follows them up with something that has become the national mantra, “Well, at least we’re not as bad as the Americans.”

（OPINION
The ally the British love to hate　csmonitor）

http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2009/1015/p09s02-coop.html

I am not sure if so many Japanese people have bad teeth, but if you mean teeth alignment by bad teeth, my understanding is that straight teeth are positively valued in Japan but not as valued as in the U.S. and crooked teeth and protruding teeth are negatively valued but not as negatively as in the U.S.:slightly crooked/protruding teeth are ignored and the double teeth(yeaba) are seen as a sign of cuteness.

Conversely I would like to ask why so many American people are obsessed with white straight teeth but so many people are fat. Not being fat seems more important medically—- and perhaps aesthetically as well in Japanese eye. (though recently more and more Japanese are getting fat,)

I believe it’s because the American conception of ‘bad teeth’ is quite unique as it focuses on cosmetics. A set of straight, white teeth does not necessarily mean that they are more ‘healthy’ than yellowy crooked teeth. Dental health comes down to cavities and if your gums are healthy. You can have teeth that are not 100% straight (as most teeth come from natures hand) and yellowed by coffee, tea or smoking and still have more ‘healthy’ teeth than a set of corrected, bleached chompers that have several cavity fillings due to a high sugar intake and bad brushing habits.

So the answer would be ‘a cultural thing’ but with the US being the aberration not Japan. This is how I see it from Denmark at least (where we have free socialized healthcare and free under 18 dental care) =)

Also, making the whole, “My friend works in Japan,” thing not even part of the argument, if you work for your country’s government – full time no less – and you are uninsured, then there is something GROSSLY wrong with the way things work. Four or five years ago when a former co-worker of mine at a previous job that was on welfare ended up getting “free” bariatric surgery AND the cosmetic surgery afterward to get the chicken skin effect removed, it more or less galvanized my opinion. And to add insult to injury this was right after my employer was taken over by private ownership and the health insurance I had for almost 4 years was suddenly just not there anymore.