JCP teamwork between national and ward assembly brings health insurance cards back to people with low income

Japan Press Weekly

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JCP teamwork between national and ward assembly brings health insurance cards back to people with low income

Teamwork between Japanese Communist Party representatives in the Diet and representatives in the Itabashi Ward Assembly in Tokyo enabled the ward’s low income households to get their health insurance cards back, which had been taken away due to failure to pay premiums. At least 300 such households will be issued the cards in June.

The ward has taken away health insurance cards from about 3,200 households for failing to pay the high national health insurance premiums.

Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Koike Akira in the House Budget Committee on March 4 showed a stack of collection reminder notices that drove some people to committing suicide, and urged the government to end the aggressive collection of premiums.

Health, Welfare and Labor Minister Nagatsuma Akira replied, “The ministry will ask municipalities to act cautiously in dealing with the matter.”

In the Itabashi ward assembly on March 23, a JCP assembly member distributed copies of Koike’s questions on the record to all assembly members in order to fully discuss the problem. As a result, the person in charge answered that health insurance cards should be issued to low income households.

The JCP ward assembly member said, “This is the fruit of teamwork between the national and local assemblies to protect people’s health and lives.”

- Akahata, April 8, 2010