Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 18 - 24 [WELFARE]

Hakodate City will cut national health insurance premiums by 5,400 yen per person

The Hakodate City Assembly in Hokkaido has decided to reduce the national health insurance premium rate by 5% from April, amounting to an average of 5,400 yen cut per person. Efforts made by city residents and Japanese Communist Party assemblypersons finally bore fruit.

The national health insurance premiums will go down by 62,000 yen a year, for example, for a couple in their 40s with two children and an annual income of three million yen.

Following the assembly’s decision, the city government will utilize 320 million yen in state subsidies and 90 million yen transferred from the city’s general account for the purpose of lowering the premiums.

The JCP assemblypersons’ group during Hakodate City assembly sessions took up the issue of the heavy burden of payments for the insurance program 12 times in the past four years. They have pointed out that about one fourth of households covered by the national health insurance program cannot afford to pay the premiums. The JCP local representatives have repeatedly demanded a transfer from the general account to help alleviate the burden of insurance payments on residents.

The Hakodate Council for Promotion of Social Security, a citizens’ organization, has also called for an even lower premium rate. It submitted to the city assembly a petition with around 7,000 signatures.

Tsukuda Tomomi of the Hakodate Democratic Commerce and Industry Organization (Minsho) engaged in the signature-collection campaign. He said, “We finally achieved what we have called for for more than ten years. This is epoch-making and it was only the JCP lawmakers who conveyed our petition to the assembly. I hope the assembly sincerely listens to our demands.”