Stop consecutive cuts in medical treatment fees

   Debate on revision of medical treatment fees paid to medical institutions under the public insurance program is at a critical stage. In Japan, revision of medical treatment fees comes every two years.

   For three years in a row since FY 2002, the government has slashed the cost for medical treatment on the grounds that the need now is to “restrain medical costs.” From the FY 1998 figure indexed at 100, it dropped to 93.5 in FY 2006.

   The consecutive cuts in medical treatment fees have caused many hospitals to experience difficulty in continuing to provide medical services, leaving many people without necessary medical care and many women without hospitals to go to for delivery.

   With the next revision set for April 2008, opposition to cutbacks on medical treatment fees are increasing.

   After discussing this issue, the Central Social Insurance Medical Council on November 28 told Health, Labor, and Welfare Minister Masuzoe Yoichi that the nation is not in a position to cut the medical treatment fees.

   Council members from the Japan Medical Association representing medical service providers, the National Federation of Health Insurance Societies, and even the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) agreed to the call for medical treatment fees to be increased. Health Minister Masuzoe conceded that an increase may be necessary.

   The position of the Finance Ministry is that social welfare costs should be held down and that medical treatment fees should be reduced. It estimates that a one percent cut in medical treatment fees will save 80-billion yen in tax money.

   Japan’s medical cost that accounts for 8.0 percent of its GDP, ranks 22nd among the 33 OECD countries.

   Blaming the government’s policy of holding down medical costs and cutting medical treatment fees for causing a dearth of doctors and the collapse of regional health care services, the Japanese Medical and Dental Practitioners for Improvement of Medical Care is demanding a 7.25 percent raise in medical treatment fees. The Japan Medical Association is calling for an increase of 5.7 percent.

   The Japanese Communist Party demands that the government discontinue its policy of curbing the medical treatment fees and proposes that high-priced medicines and medical equipment be strictly regulated and that the medical treatment fees be increased wherever necessary in order to ensure the quality and safety of medical care.
- Akahata, December 5, 2007