Question

Health insurance and privacy A 21 year-old Japanese woman who is a university student has been considering going to see a psychiatrist. Since she has national health insurance, she has to pay the hospital only 30% of the total medical cost, which she thinks she can afford. What makes her pause, however, is that if she uses the national health insurance her hospital visits will be reported to her father through the company he is working for, which she does not want to happen. Details of treatment or prescribed medicines are not reported but because the name of hospital/clinic she attends will be reported her family can guess her conditions. This means she cannot hide the fact that she sees a psychiatrist and that will make them worry. This is because she is a dependent family member of her father in the national health insurance system until she starts to work after graduating from the university. Another option is that she pays all the cost by herself without using the national health insurance but then this is too costly and she cannot go to see a psychiatrist. She has been wondering what to do but she really does not want to let her family know about this and be worried about her. Questions: 1. Do privacy and confidentiality exist within a family? 2. Should family member know about all the health issues and hospital visits each other? 3.Does your country have a health insurance system? What are issues related to privacy and confidentiality it has?

Answer 1

In any system until a member of the family turns adult and until they can decide on their own. There is definitely respect for individual rights and freedom where the privacy and confidentiality is available. This is regarding the general day-to-day activities and not when someone is ill. Family is the support system that one has in times of difficulty and if one hide it from the family, one will struggle psychologically. This will only make things worse. My country has a health insurance system which makes sure that a nominee from the family needs to be mentioned everywhere. So, it becomes apparent that the family should be aware of the health conditions of a family member. It is to make sure they are not unattended while going to the hospital because when one is ill anything may happen depending on the seriousness of the disease. The person may even collapse and die if no one is around.