More elderly unable to afford to pay insurance premiums

Japan Press Weekly

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More elderly unable to afford to pay insurance premiums

The Central Council for the Promotion of Social Security has found that the number of people who have become unable to afford to pay the premiums for the discriminatory health insurance program for the elderly aged 75 and over is rapidly increasing.

According to a survey the council released on September 16, the number of cases in which one’s health insurance card was invalidated because he/she fell behind in premium payments was 1.7 times more than that of the previous year.

To those with delinquent accounts, each municipality issues a short-term insurance card. In 41 prefectures (6 prefectures refused to release information or are still under survey), 32,961 cases were covered under a short-term card as of August 1.

However, those who receive the short-term card need to visit their municipality to renew the card before the expiration date. Thus, some elderly people have become uninsured as they cannot go to the office for various reasons.

Ainoya Yasutaka, the council’s secretary general said, “There has been a sharp increase in the number of low-income elderly people. Some cannot even go to a hospital because their short-term card has expired. When they go to see a doctor, it is often too late and they are beyond treatment.”

“The fastest way to reduce the number of uninsured elderly people is the immediate abolition of the discriminatory health insurance program for the elderly aged 75 and over,” stated Ainoya.

- Akahata, September 17, 2010