Debunking the Doctor Pay Gap: A Keio Medical University Expert Reveals the Surprising Truth About Medical Salaries in Japan

Anatomy of a non-benefit republic

Naoki Ikegami, professor emeritus at Keio University in Japan. Tokyo = Reporter Jeong Jong-hoon

“In Japan, there are no cases where private medical insurance is used for unnecessary medical abuse. Mixed medical treatment is not allowed because situations like in Korea (abuse) may occur.”

Naoki Ikegami (75), professor emeritus at Keio University, has repeatedly mentioned that Japan’s private health insurance “plays a supporting role in health insurance.” This was at a meeting held at his home near Tokyo, Japan on September 5th. Professor Ikegami is considered one of Japan’s prominent medical policy and health insurance experts.

Japan has not recognized mixed medical treatment, which combines health insurance-covered and non-covered treatment, for about 40 years. This is one of the major differences from the Korean medical system. Professor Ikegami said, “The reason for not providing mixed treatment is that medical expenses are well covered by health insurance, but if this is acknowledged, health insurance (financial) pressure will increase.” He added, “As medical institutions adapt to free non-covered treatment, medical expenses are bound to increase.” “There is none,” he said.

In extension, it was revealed that Korea’s actual cost insurance and Japan’s private health insurance are very different. In Japan, non-covered treatment is suppressed, so there is little opportunity to abuse insurance. He said, “Insurance payments are often a flat rate of 10,000 yen per day of hospitalization (rather than the actual cost),” and “Japanese people generally do not have a good awareness of private insurance.”

Professor Ikegami explained that there is not much variation in the average income of doctors. This is in contrast to Korea, where the income of private practitioners focusing on non-covered care is relatively high. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as of 2020, the average annual compensation for ophthalmologists was 458.37 million won, while that for pediatricians was only 108.75 million won.

He explained, “Doctors’ income does not vary greatly depending on the field of treatment,” and “In particular, doctors at hospitals receive the same salary regardless of which department they work in.” However, he added, “Even in Japan, the popularity of surgery is declining.”

※This project was supported by the Press Promotion Fund raised through government advertising fees.

Tokyo = Reporter Jeong Jong-hoon sakehoon@joongang.co.kr