Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 5 - 11 [POLITICS]

Health panel proposes mixed medical services

An advisory panel to the health minister on November 5 proposed a system of mixed medical care services allowing the use of unapproved medication, unapproved medical devices, and unapproved medical technology on demand from patients.

The proposed system will inevitably hollow out the existing universal healthcare insurance system which operates on the principle of equality of access to care, and will increase the gap between the haves and the have-nots in terms of medication and treatment access.

The Abe Cabinet is promoting this system in its growth strategy as a measure to benefit healthcare and pharmaceutical enterprises, and intends to submit the applicable bill to the ordinary session of the Diet next year.

The present related law prohibits the provision of medical treatments covered by public insurance in combination with non-insured special treatments, with the exception of the use of advanced medical care for the purpose of medical technology assessment and the use of additional services such as private rooms and amenity beds. The proposed system will lift the ban on mixed medical practices on demand as the law’s third exception. In exchange, the new system will have patients purchase private insurance policies in case of harmful side effects from medication and the occurrence of medical malpractice incidents.

Regarding medical products or technologies whose safety and efficacy are uncertain, it takes about seven months to determine whether to authorize or not. The new system, however, will drastically shorten the period to 2-6 weeks. On top of that, a new system will allow the use of yet-to-be-authorized treatments to persons who are not part of clinical trials.

The Japan Patients Association is expressing concern over the safety and effectiveness of unapproved or questionably approved medications.

The government at present excludes 101 advanced medical treatments from the ban, most of which cost more than one million yen. Patients who can afford such expenses are few in number.

Patients’ groups claim that they want the highest level of medical care to be promptly covered by public insurance, not the expansion of expensive mixed-medical practices and non-insured treatments, so that everyone can receive necessary care without anxiety.