Japan Press Weekly

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2013 December 25 - 2014 January 7 [WELFARE]

Disaster victims win resumption of free medical care program

Pushed by sufferers’ demand, state authorities decided to restart measures to partly exempt survivors of the 2011 disaster from medical fees starting April 2014.

A civic group supporting victims in Miyagi Prefecture, which is one of the hardest-hit prefectures in the Tohoku region, made a comment on December 24 that they welcome the state’s decision.

At the end of March 2013, two years after the massive earthquake and tsunami which triggered the nuclear disaster, the Miyagi prefectural government ended the continuation of special measures to exempt disaster victims from having to pay medical and nursing care expenses.

The group of survivors and their supporters defiantly urged the national and prefectural authorities to reinstate the special program. In response to their repeated requests, the central government made a decision to exempt low-income survivors on the national health insurance from having to pay medical bills.

Tsunashima Fujio, a representative of the civic organization, stressed at a press conference in the prefectural office that the state’s decision was brought about by survivors’ consistent efforts that included a joint petition with 180 chairs of associations of residents living in temporary shelters. He also expressed his intention to prompt the authorities to make the measures retroactive to April 2013 and excuse sufferers from nursing care costs as well.

A man living in a temporary housing unit in Sendai City said, “I’m happy to hear the news. In fact, I’ve been at a loss as to how I can pay the doctor’s bills since I lost my job removing debris.”

A woman dwelling in a makeshift house in Kesennuma City said, “There are some people who gave up taking an anticancer medication because of its high price or who stopped taking an antidepressant and then committed suicide. I’m still not satisfied with the measures limiting the scope of coverage, but I’m glad that we could at least force the state to modify its position.”


Past related article:
> Abolition of free medical program threatens disaster victims’ lives [September 11, 2013]