Probe into foreigners' health insurance abuse stirs controversy in Japan

A government probe into alleged abuse of Japan's public health insurance system by foreign residents has sparked controversy, with critics claiming the investigation encourages prejudice against non-Japanese.In January, the health and justice ministries began looking into alleged cases involving foreigners who fraudulently obtained residential status in order to join Japan's public insurance system as a way to avoid paying costly medical fees. The move followed concerns raised by medical workers that abuse of the system could undermine the whole public insurance scheme.But in the time since…READ FULL ARTICLE