elderly

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Medical insurance for elderly must not be based on disinformation
Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The government has a plan to establish a new medical insurance system for the elderly 65 and over, with the aim of forcing elderly people to pay "appropriate amounts of insurance premiums on the pretext of maintaining an equilibrium with those of the working generations" (Cabinet meeting on March 28, 2003).

This particular mention of the payment of premiums is intended to allot the collection of premiums from low-income elderly people, dependents in the households. A total of 4.1 million elderly people are supported by their spouses or their children. The proposed medical care system for the elderly is designed to collect premiums from all elderly people including these dependents.

Statistics show that it is wrong to say that elderly people have never "become rich." In 2000, 52 percent of people 75 and older live on an annual income below 1 million yen, and 38 percent do so even among people under 75. The 2003 data show that the number of elderly households with an annual income below 2 million yen is increasing.

It is wrong to force the elderly to shoulder the same burdens for medical services as the active workforce.

Among elderly people 70 and over, the percentage of those who have symptoms that need to be dealt with by a doctor is 1.4-2.1 times greater than among the working generations (age between 25 and 64).

The average income of elderly households in 2003 declined by 440,000 yen from a peak in 1998. Loss of income from work is a major cause of the big decrease. Sixty-four percent of the elderly depends on pension as their single source of income. The government and the ruling parties, however, are going to adversely revise the law to consecutively decrease pension benefits and increase burdens.

The government should stop the plan for the new system which will impose on the elderly increased burdens on the basis of the false argument that they have become rich and will actually bar them from receiving necessary medical services. -- Akahata, July 20, 2005