 Nursing-care system force users to pay more than they receive in pension benefits Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Koike Akira revealed that the government bill to adversely revise the nursing care insurance, if enacted, will force some users to pay more than what they receive in pension benefits. The government is attempting to force users to pay all the costs of room and board, imposing a total burden of 300 billion yen on them. At the May 19 Upper House Health, Labor, and Welfare Committee meeting, Koike cited a case of a man in his 60's who lives in a nursing home in Tokyo and is receiving 70,000 yen as a monthly pension benefit. If the law is revised, the monthly payment to the nursing home will increase from 40,000 to 85,000 yen. In answer to Koike, who demanded that the government establish a measure to reduce burdens, a Welfare Ministry official said, "Users have various situations, and some of them have savings," and claimed that low-income users can apply for a system of reduction and exemption provided by social welfare corporations. JCP Koike insisted that the government should be responsible for reducing users' burdens. Welfare Minister Otsuji Hidehisa said, "We have to ask the public to support this system." The bill has been discussed in the House of Councilors since May 11 after it was passed through the House of Representatives. - Akahata, May 20, 2005 |