JAPANESE HEALTH insurance changes

Late night reading of the Tokyo magazine Metropolis,

http://metropolis.co.jp/

gave me a bit of a jolt yesterday as I tried to fathom the reality of one of the advertisements.

WANTED: A few hundred thousand concerned foreigners, the top line read.

"As of April 2010, immigration will introduce a guideline which will require enrollment in social health insurance as a prerequisite for visa renewal."

Take a look at the Free Choice Foundation website below for more specific details, and lend your support if you can.

www.FreeChoice.jp

I can't quite fathom not having the choice of what health insurance I use as a foreigner in Japan. When my Father was in critical condition a few years ago, my private health insurance naturally paid for my flight home. As petrifying and emotionally draining as these circumstances can be, without the availability of a safety net of health insurance that caters to the foreigner in Japan, we are left with a social health system that ignores our most essential needs as expatriates.

Please make your voice heard. Please sign the petition drive.