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Finance minister's advisory panel proposes forcing elderly to pay 20 percent of medical bills

The Fiscal System Council, an advisory panel to the finance minister, on November 21 submitted to Minister Tanigaki Sadakazu its proposal that the elderly who are 70 years and older pay 20 percent of the costs for medical services instead of the present 10 percent.

The panel also proposed that senior citizens whose income is about the same as active workers, pay 30 percent of medical costs from the present 20 percent. Concerning low-income elderly people, their payment rate will be maintained at the current level of 10 percent.

The panel advised that inpatients bear the full expenses for hospital food and beds, that minor illness be excluded from insurance coverage, and that medical treatment fees be lowered to a certain extent.

The panel will report on its proposal to the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy (CEFP). Referring to this proposal, the CEFP will formulate basic policies toward next fiscal year's draft budget at the end of December.

The Fiscal System Council is an advisory panel to the finance minister. In November every year, it submits a recommendation concerning the compilation of the next fiscal year's budget to the minister. Those named as panel members are included Kaizuka Keimei (professor of Chuo University), Nishimuro Taizo (chairman of Tokyo Stock Exchange), Okuda Hiroshi (chairman of Japan Business Federation), and Kitashiro Kakutaro (chairman of Japan Association of Corporate Executives). -- Akahata, November 22, 2005