Abstract
This article discusses the view toward fairness in Japanese society with respect to medical care and long-term nursing care for the aged from an economic viewpoint. I compare and contrast the characteristics of medical services and elderly nursing care service as economic“goods”. Based on the above discussion, a method to ensure fair and efficient distribution of resources is suggested by emphasizing a quasimarket system consisting mainly of non-profit firms. Subsequently, I examine the possible effects of deregulation in the medical care field, and my arguments are presented against both the potential mixture of insurance benefits and self-payment, and the entry of for-profit firms into this field. I disagree with the former because of the cost shifting that would result from the unfair and inefficient distribution of resources in the possible multi-tiered medical care system. Free entry by for-profit corporations is not appropriate in Japan because the medical system is currently unprepared for competing on a fair and equal basis
