JCP calls for withdrawal of bill to adversely revise medical insurance system

The House of Representatives on April 19 entered a discussion on a bill to adversely revise the medical insurance system that will force the people to pay more for medical services.

The bill, if enacted, will increase the share of salaried-worker patient costs for medical treatment from 20 percent to 30 percent. Elderly people 70 and over will be charged more for their hospital visits, and medical insurance premiums for workers will be raised.

Ozawa Kazuaki of the Japanese Communist Party used his question time in the Upper House Plenary Session on the same day to call for the bill to be withdrawn. He said that it will only worsen the people's living conditions and arouse deeper public concern about the future. He demanded that the government share, not the people's burden, in the public medical cost be increased to retain the present level.

The Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party also expressed opposition to an increase in the people's burden in medical costs and demanded that the bill be retracted.

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The Japan Medical Association, in a statement issued on April 23, expressed strong opposition to the bill to adversely revise the medical system which will mean more medical expenses for patients. (end)