Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2011 October 12 - 18 [POLITICS]

Welfare ministry uses pay-raise as excuse to increase nursing-care insurance premiums

The Welfare Ministry on October 13 announced its plan to increase nursing-care insurance premiums and fees and cut services under the pretext of improving the working conditions of nursing-care workers.

The ministry will submit relevant bills to the ordinary Diet session in 2012.

At present, the government gives subsidies to operators of nursing-care facilities based on the policy of raising nursing-care workers’ wages by 15,000 yen per month which was adopted by the Liberal Democratic-Komei government in 2009.

The ministry in the announcement showed its intention to maintain the 15,000 yen pay-raise policy although it indicated that it will abolish the subsidy system at the end of March 2012.

In order to guarantee a 15,000 yen monthly pay-raise for nursing-care workers without government subsidies, it is necessary to increase the nursing-care service charge by 2%, the ministry proclaimed. Furthermore, the ministry stressed the need to reduce nursing-care services.

The 2% increase in the service charge will impose heavier financial burdens on nursing-care service users because they are already required to pay 10% of the charge for services they use.

The welfare ministry explained that its plan is based on the policy of a “comprehensive reform of taxation and social welfare services” that the DPJ government has pushed forward with. This proves that the government argument that “a consumption tax increase will contribute to improving social welfare” is nothing but a fiction.