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If you are an expatriate planning on long-term residence in Japan you can, after a one-year stay, become a part of Japan's national health program. Until that time, however, you're going to need Japanese overseas travel insurance.

Some of the Japanese overseas travel insurance options include not only trip or annual medical emergency coverage for travel but also disability insurance, personal liability coverage and term life insurance. Japanese overseas travel insurance's medical coverage with some plans offers full (100 percent) reimbursement for prescription medicine, medical care for diagnostic purposes, hospital stay and even surgery. You'll also be covered in case of terrorism and an evacuation to your home residence in the event of medical or terrorist emergency.

One firm whose Japanese overseas travel plan we perused offered coverage for those over 80 years old, difficult to find. The minimum coverage time period for this plan is one week (seven days) with a one-year maximum, although it can be renewed for a total of three consecutive years of coverage. Coverage varies according to your age. You must be at least two weeks old for any coverage. If you are under 70 years of age you can choose coverage limits that range from $50,000 to $1 million. Folks between 70 and 79 are excluded from coverage that exceeds $50,000, while those 80 or older can only be covered to a maximum of $10,000.

Let's look at a couple of quotes to see the variation in cost for age, children, number of travelers, and participation in sports. We'll also look at the cost for non-U.S. citizens. The first quote is for a single U.S. resident 18-29 years of age traveling along for one year and not wanting the rider for sports coverage. A $1 million ceiling for Japanese overseas travel insurance coverage, with a $250 deductible, is $576. Reducing the ceiling doesn't seem like nearly as good a deal - the premium is $504, although increasing the deductible to $1000 reduces the cost to $403.20. That same Japanese overseas travel insurance coverage for non-U.S. citizens is several hundred dollars more.

For a couple both 30-39 years old with two children traveling with them, Japanese overseas travel insurance does not come cheap. Assuming U.S. residence and a $500,000 ceiling with $500 deductible the hefty price tag for this coverage is $1814.40. While this may seem excessive, consider the cost of medical coverage for one or more of you, or for emergency evacuation. You'll probably come to the conclusion that Japanese overseas travel insurance is inexpensive as compared to the alternative.