Patient Copayments Rise In Japan

In Japan, a larger share of medical treatment costs will be borne bypatients, starting from this year, according to an agreement reached by the Liberal Democratic Party and its two political partners, the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake. The support of the two partners was needed in order for the Finance Ministry to complete its draft budget for fiscal 1997, which has now been submitted.

The rationale for the proposed increases in medical payments by patients is to alleviate the worsening deficit in Japan's medical insurance system. This continues to increase; expenditures for medical treatment in Japan were estimated at 27,000 billion yen ($236 million) during fiscal 1996, with more than 8,000 billion yen financed by tax funds, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

New Payments For The Over-70s During the early 1980s the health insurance system, which provided free treatment for those over 70 and people on corporate health insurance plans, was revised to require a fixed amount of 1,020 yen monthly for the former, no matter how often they visited the doctor, and 10% out-of-pocket for the latter.