Increase of Japan's medical expenditure slowed to 1.7% in 2012

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) reported approximate medical expenditure (AME) for the fiscal year 2012 that ended in March. Although costs for work-place injuries and some out-of-pocket items are yet to be included, the AME - accounting for 98% of the National Health Expenditure (NHE) - is a quick and accurate indicator of trends in the NHE, which takes a year and a half to be finalized, reports The Pharma Letter’s local analyst.

The AME increased by 640 billion yen ($6.44 billion) or 1.7% to 38.4 trillion yen in 2012. Payments for elderly patients (aged above 70) accounted for 75% or 480 billion yen of the total increase. For the age bracket, daily medical cost per patient increased 2.6% to 14,800 yen in 2012 and annual medical cost per capita became 804,000 yen compared to overall average of 301,000 yen. For the population aged above 70, the per capita cost became 4.4 times larger and the group accounted for 17% of the total population and 45% of the total medical spending.

New drugs also increasing medical costs