cost of giving birth in okinawa

[dawn_gazer]

hello, everyone! i am really hoping that some japanese women who have just recently given birth (or foreigners) could give an information about the cost of giving birth here in okinawa...

i am due to give birth in november at ITOKAZU HOSPITAL in naha city. i haven't really asked about how much they are going to charge me for a normal delivery.

anyway, would anyone here know how much it cost to give birth (normal delivery) in okinawa? i hope to hear replies soon:):star:.

thanks a lot!

dawn

[DoctorP]

Give people some time...I know you posed this question twice already today...someone will help you. I will ask my wife for you later.

It is good that you started your own thread though...that will help you! Welcome to the forums!

[P_chan]

My wife says around $1,000 but she's not sure. Her immediate reply was "expensive" lol.

[DoctorP]

I'm pretty sure it was more than that...I'll check later though.
Insurance covered about 80% of it if I remember correctly.

[dawn_gazer]

Give people some time...I know you posed this question twice already today...someone will help you. I will ask my wife for you later.

It is good that you started your own thread though...that will help you! Welcome to the forums!

good morning, DoctorP! my apologies for not introducing myself first...:( probably, i was just that anxious to know how much my husband and i should be preparing for a first born. we're just new couples, and honestly, our savings are....:(

i really hope to hear replies soon:star: and, DoctorP, thanks for offering help!

dawn

[DoctorP]

I just spoke to the wife about it. It costs us Y300,000 in Urasoe. The Japanese govt. paid it all back a few weeks later, but that is not through insurance. She stated that natural childbirth is not reimbursed by insurance...but if you have a C-section, it is considered a surgery and you will be reimbursed part of the costs. Hope that helps.

[Muku]

Congratulations on the new life!:D You must be excited!

First off what type of insurance do you have? If you have the NHI, or National Health Insurance through the local city office you should be reimbursed or given a payout of roughly 300,000 to 350,000 yen. Check with the hospital they should know exactly how much the benefit is. Costs will run accordingly. Social Health Insurance pays a bit more

I have had two children here in Japan, one at the Adventist Medical Center and another at a hospital in Urasoe.

Now let me go on. If you have a regular delivery you will probably be in the hospital for up to one week if it is a C-section and recovery goes normally about 2 weeks or so.

You will be expected to pay for the birth up front at the end of your stay in the hospital. However if you have financial problems and can not pay the bill up front, go to your city office and request information about receiving the child brith benefit up front. However it takes time and paperwork

Usually people pay the costs up front and then take the receipts to the city office and get the payment. The amount is set, and all hospitals know exactly how much the birth benefit is the cost will be roughly around the same as the benefit. All costs are not covered 100%, however you can guess-timate that roughly 90% will be covered. Itokazu is private so they may be a bit higher than if you were giving birth at a public hospital.

Another thing to remember, after the child is born keep all of your health check up receipts they are 100% reimbursable up to if I remember correctly the first year.

Also remember to apply for the "jidou teiate" after your child is born, it is a childrens benefit that pays you 5,000 yen per month payable 3 times a year for the first two children up to the age of 20, if you have 3 or more children it is payable at 10,000 per month. It is paid in Feb, June and Oct. Even if you forget to apply and your child turns ten you can receive back payments as well, I know we received a bit over 300,000 for our three kids.

[Muku]

I just spoke to the wife about it. It costs us Y300,000 in Urasoe. The Japanese govt. paid it all back a few weeks later, but that is not through insurance. She stated that natural childbirth is not reimbursed by insurance...but if you have a C-section, it is considered a surgery and you will be reimbursed part of the costs. Hope that helps.

Just to add, the costs depend on the hospital, and the costs are determined by the reimbursement from the City.

Private hospitals will cost more than 300,000 and some public ones are less than that.

Some people make a little off of it, some pay out of pocket.

[DoctorP]

Uchinamuku...you may want to check on your information. What you posted is for a Japanese national, not a foreigner. Not knowing if she is married to a fellow foreigner or a local it is hard to say what she can do.

My wife says the reimbursement is not from insurance, but rather the government as kind of a congratulations, and thank you for helping to populate (as many Japanese households are not doing now days). Also, if she is not married to a local, she will not get the childrens benefit, also, that benefit is only good until the child is 12 years old, not 20.

[Muku]

Uchinamuku...you may want to check on your information. What you posted is for a Japanese national, not a foreigner. Not knowing if she is married to a fellow foreigner or a local it is hard to say what she can do.

My wife says the reimbursement is not from insurance, but rather the government as kind of a congratulations, and thank you for helping to populate (as many Japanese households are not doing now days). Also, if she is not married to a local, she will not get the childrens benefit, also, that benefit is only good until the child is 12 years old, not 20.

I honestly dont know about the "married to a foreigner" portion of getting the benefit. If her husband is Japanese then what I wrote would be correct. It would help to have her come back and answer that portion.

However is she has Social Health Ins. the benefit comes from the Insurance and one other thing people that do not have any insurance coverage can not from the information that I have apply for the benefit either. The money is from the pooled money of the NHI.


But on the child benefit it is until 20, want to know why I know? My daughter turned 20 in June and the benefit dropped. I checked with my town office because the payment to my bank account dropped, I was curious and called my town office and that is the explanation they gave me. It is also because I have three children, if there is only one child the benefit stops at 16. I received it until she was twenty because of the combination of ages of my children.

Sorry to Dawn if there was any confusion there, the information was accurate just for my case and not yours. Thanks to Doc for reminding me!:D

If you can read Japanese here is a link that explains the system in a bit more detail.
児童手当　Jidou Teate (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%85%90%E7%AB%A5%E6%89%8B%E5%BD%93)

[DoctorP]

That is good to know. I know the govt. changed the policy a few times already. First it was 6 years, then 12, so I guess now it is 20. I'll have to go to the town office and check that.

[DoctorP]

Udhinamuku...going off of the wiki link you provided, I found this:

児童手当の対象となるのは、0歳以上12歳(平成18年3月以前は9歳)に到達してから最初の年度末（3月 31日）までの間にある児童である。これは、通常の年齢で修学していれば小学校六年生まで、ということにな るので、「小学校修了前の児童」と呼ばれるが、児童が就学猶予等の理由によりこれ以降で小学校六年生以下で あったとしても、支給の対象にならない。また、児童はその国籍、居住地を問わない。

This basically says that the child receives the money until they are 12 years old. The only difference is if the mother is single, then the child gets the money until 19, or 20...that part I am not totally clear on.

Also, this benefit is based on income, and not all people will qualify. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am just trying to clarify.

[Muku]

That is good to know. I know the govt. changed the policy a few times already. First it was 6 years, then 12, so I guess now it is 20. I'll have to go to the town office and check that.

Looking at the link I provided, if you scroll down to the bottom that has

第1子以降 小学校修了前

That means that in 2006 the law changed that with families with 1 child the benefit ends when the child graduates from ES.

Now I need to go and check as well. :-|

I again apologize for any confusion here......as Uchina hides his head between his legs........:-|

[Muku]

Udhinamuku...going off of the wiki link you provided, I found this:



This basically says that the child receives the money until they are 12 years old. The only difference is if the mother is single, then the child gets the money until 19, or 20...that part I am not totally clear on.

Also, this benefit is based on income, and not all people will qualify. Please correct me if I am wrong. I am just trying to clarify.

That is true about the joint family income most people however dont go over the published amount.

Single parents I know receive that and there is another payout as well.

[DoctorP]

I appreciate the info, because if I am wrong, I need to go to city hall. Unfortunately my Japanese isn't as strong as it needs to be and I have to struggle through interpreting the site.

[dawn_gazer]

hi there, DoctorP and Uchinamaku! thanks to you both for taking the time to give me the information that i really need at this time...

anyway, i have a shakai hoken. both my husband and i are foreigners (no japanese blood at all...) but we're both provided shakai hoken by our employers. we're paying 50% of it as it is the law. both of just have very poor japanese skills that's why although we've been members of the shakai hoken for quite sometime now (more than 2 years) we still find it very, very difficult to understand the system. recently, we've visited the social health insurance office here in naha city to apply for the so-called child benefit which is now 350,000 yen. we've had it filled up, and the hospital as well. we've planned to apply it in advance (8/29 to be exact) but the SHI has told us to file it one month before i give birth. as far as we can understand (the lady at the SHI office does not seem to be very accommodating...probably because we're foreigners claiming for benefits:( ) should there be an excess to the 350,000 yen benefit, they will deposit it to our bank account. that's why there's a portion in the form where we had to write our bank account's information. but should the cost of delivery be more than 350,000 yen then obviously we will have to pay the remaining balance out of our own pocket.

i'm just a bit anxious of how much private hospitals charge here in okinawa. in gaijinpot.com, one lady who lives in shibuya (mainland japan) has mentioned that the cost of delivery in japan is around 800,000yen to 1,000,000! i was really shocked to have read her post. i'm not sure if she was really saying the truth or not but she has really scared me about it! what she was actually saying was although the 350,000 yen is available, my husband and i will still be required to shell out about 450,000 yen additional to pay for hospital bills:eek:! i really wonder if you have had the same experience...

as regards jido teate, some people we know, both foreign workers here in okinawa, receive allowance for their child. they said it's 10,000 yen monthly, and payable 3 times a year.

again, thanks to you both for sharing. i'm really thankful that we have this forum right here in okinawa...

dawn

[dawn_gazer]

Congratulations on the new life!:D You must be excited!

First off what type of insurance do you have? If you have the NHI, or National Health Insurance through the local city office you should be reimbursed or given a payout of roughly 300,000 to 350,000 yen. Check with the hospital they should know exactly how much the benefit is. Costs will run accordingly. Social Health Insurance pays a bit more

I have had two children here in Japan, one at the Adventist Medical Center and another at a hospital in Urasoe.

Now let me go on. If you have a regular delivery you will probably be in the hospital for up to one week if it is a C-section and recovery goes normally about 2 weeks or so.

You will be expected to pay for the birth up front at the end of your stay in the hospital. However if you have financial problems and can not pay the bill up front, go to your city office and request information about receiving the child brith benefit up front. However it takes time and paperwork

Usually people pay the costs up front and then take the receipts to the city office and get the payment. The amount is set, and all hospitals know exactly how much the birth benefit is the cost will be roughly around the same as the benefit. All costs are not covered 100%, however you can guess-timate that roughly 90% will be covered. Itokazu is private so they may be a bit higher than if you were giving birth at a public hospital.

Another thing to remember, after the child is born keep all of your health check up receipts they are 100% reimbursable up to if I remember correctly the first year.

Also remember to apply for the "jidou teiate" after your child is born, it is a childrens benefit that pays you 5,000 yen per month payable 3 times a year for the first two children up to the age of 20, if you have 3 or more children it is payable at 10,000 per month. It is paid in Feb, June and Oct. Even if you forget to apply and your child turns ten you can receive back payments as well, I know we received a bit over 300,000 for our three kids.


hi there!

when was the last time you've given birth? is it that recent? would you mind sharing how much you've paid at Adventist Medical Center (because it's also private hospita, isn't it?) i might be able to make a ballpoint figure of how much it costs now to give birth...(my apologies for being so concerned about the money thing...:o)

thanks!

dawn

[Muku]

hi there!

when was the last time you've given birth? is it that recent? would you mind sharing how much you've paid at Adventist Medical Center (because it's also private hospita, isn't it?) i might be able to make a ballpoint figure of how much it costs now to give birth...(my apologies for being so concerned about the money thing...:o)

thanks!

dawn
Dawn no problem about asking really, my pleasure.

Adventist was a bit more expensive than what we were given from the Shakai Hoken. Oh on your previous post you mentioned that they want you to apply one month before the birth, there is an obvious reason for that from a medical standpoint btw, they werent being a pain or anything it is the procedure that they have to follow. We had the same thing as well!:D

This is Okinawa and dont get shocked by costs in mainland, here it is hugely different and noone would be having their babies here if it cost that much, they would be delivering them at home. This is Okinawa.:D

Anyway back to Adventist here are a couple of links that may help you out. My 2nd son was born there, 8years ago.................:old:

The OB/GYN Doc was an American, really nice guy too. The care there is excellent, many doctors and nurses have their children there as well.

Adventist Organizational Directory (http://www.adventistdirectory.org/view_Entity.asp?EntityID=10411)

AMC WebSite (http://www.amc.gr.jp/index.htm)
Unfortunately only the Dental Section is in English.

I am trying to remember here but we only paid something like 20,000 or 30,000 yen above what the money we were reimbursed from the Ins.

Why not give them a call they do have staff that are able to speak English.

[dawn_gazer]

Oh on your previous post you mentioned that they want you to apply one month before the birth, there is an obvious reason for that from a medical standpoint btw, they werent being a pain or anything it is the procedure that they have to follow. We had the same thing as well!:D

I am trying to remember here but we only paid something like 20,000 or 30,000 yen above what the money we were reimbursed from the Ins.

Why not give them a call they do have staff that are able to speak English.

hi there, Uchinamuku! thanks again for the quick reply:thumbup:!

i have another question:o...did you have to pay the bills first, and then did you just apply for the reimbursement from the shakai hoken?

i hope i don't sound too silly to ask this question:o. honestly, i'm now trying to gather all my guts and ask the hospital about the possible bill that they might charge me...i don't know if it's too much pride or anything despite being really tied up with money at this time. i'm really glad this forum gives informative replies:thumbup1:...

dawn

[Muku]

hi there, Uchinamuku! thanks again for the quick reply:thumbup:!

i have another question:o...did you have to pay the bills first, and then did you just apply for the reimbursement from the shakai hoken?

i hope i don't sound too silly to ask this question:o. honestly, i'm now trying to gather all my guts and ask the hospital about the possible bill that they might charge me...i don't know if it's too much pride or anything despite being really tied up with money at this time. i'm really glad this forum gives informative replies:thumbup1:...

dawn
Dont worry really. Tell you what, give me a a bit of time here and I will call them and ask them about the expenses and then give you the information afterwards.

You should be worry about that baby you are carrying and not about this. Let me see what information I can find out for you. I'll be back shortly.:D

[Muku]

:D Ok Dawn.....

I just got off the phone with Adventist and here is what they told me.
For a normal birth without any complications and an average hospital stay of 6 days an expectant mother should expect a bill of around 370,000 yen.

For a c-section the cost would be about the same because as DocP wrote and the hospital confirmed, insurance would cover more of the costs incurred because of the medical procedures necessary

Next depending upon your insurance, and I told them you had the Shakai Hoken, you could have the reimbursement money directly paid to the hospital instead of having to pay for it ahead of time. The hospital would receive the 350,000 payment and then you would only be billed anything above that.

This system has only been in place since last October, previous to that all bills had to be paid ahead of time and then the money paid back later. Also not all Insurance plans have this option available, but since you have shakai hoken you would be able to apply one month before the expected due date and the payment like I said would go directly to the hospital.

So and to hopefully put you at ease a bit here, all you are looking at is a payment of roughly 20,000 to 30,000 yen out of pocket if you choose to go to Adventist. Also if you do choose to go there they suggested that you start your pre-natal checks soon as well. You are getting close and as the "day" gets closer you will need to prepare.

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.

[dawn_gazer]

:D Ok Dawn.....

I just got off the phone with Adventist and here is what they told me.
For a normal birth without any complications and an average hospital stay of 6 days an expectant mother should expect a bill of around 370,000 yen.

For a c-section the cost would be about the same because as DocP wrote and the hospital confirmed, insurance would cover more of the costs incurred because of the medical procedures necessary

Next depending upon your insurance, and I told them you had the Shakai Hoken, you could have the reimbursement money directly paid to the hospital instead of having to pay for it ahead of time. The hospital would receive the 350,000 payment and then you would only be billed anything above that.

This system has only been in place since last October, previous to that all bills had to be paid ahead of time and then the money paid back later. Also not all Insurance plans have this option available, but since you have shakai hoken you would be able to apply one month before the expected due date and the payment like I said would go directly to the hospital.

So and to hopefully put you at ease a bit here, all you are looking at is a payment of roughly 20,000 to 30,000 yen out of pocket if you choose to go to Adventist. Also if you do choose to go there they suggested that you start your pre-natal checks soon as well. You are getting close and as the "day" gets closer you will need to prepare.

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to ask.


hi there, uchinamuku:thumbup:! i really, really appreciate it that you took the time to call the hospital for the things that i should have done myself:). it is such a very gracious assistance...

i have told my husband this latest information that i have gathered from you, and like me, he is really thankful to you! now, we feel more relaxed knowing that there's not much to worry about our finances (as regards my giving birth). being a new couple, with not much savings at this time, we find it once in a while really challenging to make ends meet. okinawa is a very expensive place to live, and we' re still adjusting to the lifestyle that we've just started here.

as many of the parents, we would really like the best for our first born. now that we know we only have to at least prepare 50,000 yen just in case the hospital where i plan to give birth charge more than adventist, it is going to be easier to plan for the things that we need to prepare for our baby. we still haven't bought anything at all:o. but i'm thinking of starting the preparation this week.

as regards giving birth to the adventist, my husband and i are still thinking about it. at least now we have a ballpoint figure of how much it is in private hospitals:thumbup:. thanks to you!:)

again, thank you very, very much:first:!

dawn

[Muku]

Well I am glad I could be of assistance to you and your "family":D.

If there is anything else that you need, information or anything else to help you out please do not hesitate to ask.

[dawn_gazer]

Well I am glad I could be of assistance to you and your "family":D.

If there is anything else that you need, information or anything else to help you out please do not hesitate to ask.


hi there, uchinamuku!

i had a prenatal check up yesterday at Itokazu Hospital here in Naha City, and the head nurse has finally told us (without us asking about it:D) about the rates they have. it's 380,000yen for a private room for a 5-day stay. the cheapest that they have is 320,000yen for 2 patients sharing one room. my husband and i have decided to get a private room because that would only mean 30,000 yen on top of the claims from the shakai hoken. i'm sooo happy to hear this!

again, thanks for the inquiry you've made for me at the Adventis Medical Center:thumbup:

dawn

[Muku]

Glad to hear it! It is better to get the private room particularly when time comes for visitors. Plus if you choose to breast feed your child you may, depending on the whether the hospital allows it or notyou will have privacy.

Enjoy the rest while you can because once you get home you won't be able to give "it" back.:D:eek::eek::D