medical

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Planned adverse revision of medical insurance system targets the elderly

The government and ruling parties on December 1 adopted an "outline" of a plan to adversely revise the medical insurance system to include cutbacks in benefits for elderly people 70 and older from April 1, 2006.

Under the plan, the percentage of the medical costs that a person at age 70-74 has to pay at the hospital will be increased to 20 percent from the present 10 percent. This means that people in this age group, who now pay 70,000 yen a year on average, will be forced to pay 140,000 yen. Elderly people with more annual income than a certain maximum amount will be forced to pay 30 percent of the medical costs. Until 1983, no payment was required for the elderly for medical services at hospitals.

Moreover, elderly people who are hospitalized for a long period will have to pay for their beds and meals. A trial calculation shows that they will have to pay 32,000 yen extra a month.

The "outline" also states that a new medical insurance system for people 75 and older will be established to operate from fiscal 2008. Under this system, if enacted, all people 75 and older, unless they are covered by other medical insurance, will be forced to pay premiums of 70,000 yen a year.

Japan's medical costs are not excessively high when making an international comparison. The planned adverse revision of the medical insurance system by intentionally creating conflicts between the elderly and the working generations and between in-patients and patients at home in order to impose greater burdens on them all should not be accepted (Akahata editorial, December 2).
- Akahata, December 2, 2005