As I mentioned before, my wife had very difficult fertility treatment, pregnancy and delivery. But, that can happen to many prospective mothers anywhere in the world. In fact, Japan is quite well equipped with healthcare service.
Probably, those who have lived in Japan know that Japan has an universal healthcare system that covers 70% of medical expenses for those who legally stay in Japan over 3 months. Joining the universal healthcare system and paying necessary tax for it is mandatory for anybody who stay in Japan over 3 months.
But, prenatal checkup and child delivery are not covered by the universal healthcare. They are covered by different benefit systems, which require specific paperwork. It is not bad news but it is cumbersome.
In addition, there are several benefits related to pregnancy, child delivery and childcare. For example, in Japan, once pregnancy is confirmed, the prospective mother can take maternity leave from work while keeping employment. Once child is born, the new mother can take more than one year and 6 months of childcare leave. But, in order to do that, paperwork is required (although HR of your employer will probably help you).
What about salary during maternity leave and childcare leave. Well, your employer does not pay for it, but insurance that comes with your employment can pay. Again paperwork is required.
In addition, local government provides subsidies for medical expenses of your child up to age 15 years old (end of the final year in the middle school). But, again, you need to file paperwork.
You may be start getting the idea. In Japan, the public insurance system and government can cover so much of medical expenses and compensation for pregnancy, child delivery and childcare. But, they are under different categories and you have to file paperwork for each one of them.
So, my motivation is to help non-Japanese to get full benefit of these systems by properly filing necessary paperwork.
As I am writing this blog as a practice, I cannot promise to deliver such information quickly at once. But, I will try to provide accurate information one by one. In future, I will make another blog site with my wife to upload all useful information in more formal, well organized and eye catching way.
For now, I really appreciate if you just read even a part of this blog. I very much welcome your comments and feedback.
Additional note
- C-section is covered by the universal healthcare system. However, you cannot freely choose C-section. C-section is performed when the doctor judges that regular (vaginal) delivery is risky or there are some good reasons to opt C-section over regular delivery.
- From April 2022, Japan`s universal healthcare system started covering fertility treatment for women under 43 years old. I may try to cover this topic in future. But, this wasn`t apply to my wife as my wife had conception before this new registration was enacted.
