Japan Press Weekly

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2022 September 21 - 27 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Over 830K signatures submitted to oppose imposition of heavier medical burdens on elderly people

Seeking to block the government plan to raise out-of-pocket medical expenses for the elderly aged 75 and over to 20% from the current 10% next month, more than 20,000 signatures were submitted to the Diet on September 21. Combined with the 20,000 signatures, the number of signatures presented to the Diet since January totalled 834,878.

On this day, the Central Council for Promotion of Social Security (Shahokyo), the Japan Pensioners’ Union, the Japan Federation of Democratic Medical Institutions (Min-iren), and the Japan Senior Citizens’ Council held a rally in the House of Councilors Dietmembers’ Office building. Japanese Communist Party Upper House member Kurabayashi Akiko took part in the rally.

JCP Kurabayashi delivered a speech in solidarity, and said, “Coupled with cuts in public pension benefits, the lowering of the standards for livelihood protection, and the ongoing price surge, if the planned increase in elderly’s burden of medical costs is carried out, the elderly aged 75 and older will face a ‘quadruple whammy’. Joining hands with other opposition parties, the JCP will work hard to push the government to cancel the planned increase and instead take steps to protect elderly people’s lives and livelihoods.”

Shahokyo Representative Director Sumie Ken’yu, who is also the president of the Japanese Medical and Dental Practitioners for Improvement of Medical Care (Hodanren), said, “It is unacceptable for the government to impose heavier burdens on senior citizens amid the cost of living crisis. Let us work hard to strengthen public opposition to these moves so that everyone can receive medical care without financial anxieties.”

Min-iren Vice Secretary General Yamamoto Toshiko stressed, “Our survey found that many elderly people are struggling to survive because of insufficient pension benefits. The planned increase in out-of-pocket medical expenses will cause the elderly to hesitate to see doctors and thus should be cancelled.”

Past related article:
> JCP submits bill to put stop to measure to double elderly people’s burden for medical payments [June 8, 2022]