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Convenience stores to collect health insurance premiums
The Asahi Shimun, February 12, 2002
Convenience stores will serve yet another function under health ministry plans to make it possible for national health insurance premiums to be paid there, ministry officials said.
The planned move is aimed at encouraging those who fall behind with their premiums to pay them on time, the officials said.
The national health insurance system covers part-time workers and the self-employed.
But largely due to the inconvenience of having to pay the premiums at banks or local government offices, an increasing number of people have fallen behind with their payments. The same problem has not arisen with the health insurance system for company employees because their premiums are automatically deducted from their salaries.
As of the end of fiscal 2000, 91.4 percent of people registered with the national health insurance system were up to date with their payments, the officials said.
They said there is a particular tendency among young part-time workers in urban areas to fall into arrears with their premium payments. Many complain that banks and local government offices close too early, the officials said.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has therefore decided to change the law to make payment possible around the clock at convenience stores, they said.
Under the current law, municipal offices cannot entrust acceptance of payments for public services to private-sector organizations other than financial institutions. The ministry will therefore revise the law to include convenience stores as possible premium collectors, in the same way that such stores can accept payment of water charges, the officials said.
The revision may take effect as early as April 2003, they said.
The increase in the number of people falling into arrears with their national health insurance premiums may eventually affect the health insurance system for company workers, the officials said. That is because the government and the coalition parties have decided to include a proposal in their medical system reform plans that the two health insurance systems be integrated.
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