Japan Press Weekly

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2011 October 26 - November 1 [ECONOMY]

TPP will debilitate Japan’s public healthcare system

Japanese Communist Party representative Takahashi Chizuko at a Lower House health and welfare committee meeting on October 26 stated that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement will force Japan to open the country’s public healthcare system to foreign companies.

The United States has, for example, put pressure on Japan to expand medical services not covered by public healthcare insurance and to allow an entry of U.S. commercial enterprises into healthcare provision. The U.S. is also planning to urge Japan to “liberalize” its public health insurance system during the TPP negotiations.

Takahashi demanded that Japan not give in to the U.S. pressure and to protect people’s access to the nation’s universal healthcare system. “Japan shouldn’t participate in the TPP talks in the first place,” she said.

Health Minister Komiyama Yoko told Takahashi that the government has no intention to expand uninsured medical treatment.

A Foreign Ministry official said to Takahashi, “It’s not that we must inevitably accept what the United States tells us to do. We can express opinion even after joining in the TPP talks.”

The government presents an optimistic outlook, but the United States will push Japan to open the healthcare market.