Ruling Parties to Trim Health Premiums for Elderly People

Yomiuri Shimbun

June 4, 2008

Japan

The ruling parties have finalized a proposal to modify the recently introduced public health scheme for people aged 75 or older to reduce by 85 percent the fixed premiums paid by 4.7 million people whose annual income of 1.68 million yen or lower comes only from pension benefits.

A project team of ruling parties decided at a meeting Tuesday that the reduction would take effect during fiscal 2008.

Concerning the portion of premiums imposed on top of the fixed premiums in accordance with income levels, the team decided to entrust the decision on whether to reduce the premiums with individual prefectural federations, which manage the practical side of the health insurance scheme.

The ruling parties have come out with two separate groups of measures--one of stop-gap measures for this fiscal year ending next March, and another for permanent measures after fiscal 2009.

Measures for this fiscal year include freeing about 4.7 million people whose annual income of 1.68 million yen or less comes only from their pension benefits from paying fixed premiums from October to March. As a result, their fixed premium reduction will be 85 percent over the year compared with the current 70 percent. Their per capita average monthly fixed premiums on a nationwide basis will be halved to about 500 yen.

Regarding income-based premiums, people whose annual income is 1.53 million yen to 2.1 million yen, in principle, will get an across-the-board premium reduction of 50 percent. However, the final decision on whether the reduction will actually be implemented well be left up to each prefectural federation.

The permanent measures would see elderly people whose annual income is 800,000 yen--the model level for people covered by the national pension scheme--or lower have this part of their fixed premiums cut by 90 percent.

On the income-based premiums, the ruling parties plan to reduce the financial burden for elderly people whose annual income is 1.53 million yen to 2.1 million yen by dividing the reductions into four stages from 25 percent to 100 percent in accordance with their income.

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