Military and SOFA Civilian Healthcare Crisis in Japan - Townhall sponsored by JCMA and VoteFromAbroad.org

The Japan Civilian Medical Advocacy Group and VoteFromAbroad.org co-sponsor 

Military and SOFA Civilian Healthcare Crisis in Japan - Online Townhall 

On September 12th at 19:00 JST

The Defense Health Agency (DHA) was established by federal law in 2013 to streamline healthcare among the services and refocus it away from family care to Active Duty and combat support over a 10-year period. The impacts in Japan have been especially severe. As access to care at U.S. military treatment facilities was reduced, many patients were directed into the Japanese healthcare system, where language barriers, insurance limitations, and provider availability have resulted in hundreds of documented cases of denial of service. In some cases, patients were unable to obtain care either at military treatment facilities or at Japanese facilities, with these failures associated with at least four deaths.

The burden of these policies falls especially heavily on civilian DoD employees in Japan, but the knock-on effects of healthcare reductions impact all DoD employees, Active Duty, retirees, and their dependents. There have been some short-term improvements since the public outcry in 2023, but long-term policy solutions still need to be enacted.

The program will cover the history of the DHA, the founding of JCMA, the community response in 2022–24, the current status of healthcare for DoD employees and the broader military community in Japan, and the policies and long-term solutions JCMA is advocating. There will be time for anonymous Q&A and feedback.

Then the folks from VoteFromAbroad.org, which maintains a voter registration and ballot request website, will help attendees make sure they can vote in the upcoming November 3rd elections and elect representatives who will pursue the policies important to them

RSVP or contact JCMA https://www.jcmadvocacy.org/contact
for the link to the online event. 

WHEN

Saturday, September 12, 2026 at 07:00 PM Tokyo Time

WHERE

This is a virtual event. See the event description above or RSVP for virtual participation options.

CONTACT

David W Brauer
[email protected]