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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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!

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 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! 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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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!

If you can read Japanese here is a link that explains the system in a bit more detail.
児童手当　Jidou Teate