Kokuta urges PM to establish system to provide free medical care for children

Japan Press Weekly

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

Kokuta urges PM to establish system to provide free medical care for children

In the March 1 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting, Japanese Communist Party representative Kokuta Keiji demanded that the government establish a system to provide free medical care for children up to six years old.

Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio in his reply said that the government will discuss the JCP proposal as a matter of priority.

Citing the fact that a school nurse has reported that recently more and more children are hesitating to say they are feeling sick just before their parents’ payday, Kokuta emphasized the need for a system to provide children medical care free of charge.

Hatoyama, however, replied that it is financially difficult due to budget constraints.

Kokuta explained that all prefectures have a system to provide financial support for children’s medical treatment fees and in 35 prefectures, households with pre-school children or children up to 12-15 years old can receive financial help to pay hospital charges and costs for regular medical care. He said, “Each local government independently introduces such systems, so targeted children’s age differs among prefectures. The national government should subsidize local governments.”

Kokuta criticized the government for continuing the former government’s policy to cut state subsidies for medical expenses to municipalities that are reducing children’s medical charges at hospitals under the pretext that such measures contribute to increasing the number of patients and thus the nation’s total medical cost.

- Akahata, March 2, 2010