A woman filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against a hospital in Japan that diagnosed and treated her Chinese mother with a brain tumour in 2022, claiming it illegally billed her mother three times the rate applied to uninsured Japanese patients.
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In the suit filed at the Osaka District Court, the woman is seeking confirmation that she is not liable for around 4.5 million yen (US$30,506) in medical fees charged by the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Centre in Suita, Osaka prefecture.
According to the complaint, the woman’s mother came to Japan in November 2019 on a short-term stay but was unable to return to China due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While she obtained residency status under a special government measure, she was not eligible to enrol in the national health insurance system.
In January 2022, after developing motor impairment, she was taken to the hospital, where she was diagnosed with a suspected brain tumour.
Foreign nationals without health insurance in Japan are treated as private patients, with hospitals setting fees at their discretion. After the woman’s mother was discharged, the hospital billed her around 6.75 million yen, triple the rate charged to uninsured Japanese patients.
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When her family requested a reduction, the hospital declined, stating that foreign patients without insurance are uniformly billed at 300 per cent. The woman later died in 2023 after returning to China.