Japan to Revise Cap on Burden from Long-Term High-Cost Care

Tokyo, Dec. 8 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s health ministry on Monday proposed to an expert panel a plan to revise ceilings on long-term patients’ burdens for high-cost medical care. Specifically, the ministry plans to introduce an annual cap on such patients’ out-of-pocket expenses, in addition to the current monthly ceiling. The government will decide a concrete amount for the new cap during the process to draw up its budget for fiscal 2026. It is mulling introducing the new ceiling next summer or later. At present, if high-cost medical care recipients’ burdens exceed the monthly ceiling three times in the past 12 months, the ceiling will be lowered for the fourth and later months for them. As some long-term patients do not meet the criteria and therefore cannot receive the benefit under the system, the ministry aims to newly set the annual ceiling to help reduce out-of-pocket expenses of such patients. The ministry’s plan calls for making patients whose costs reach the monthly ceiling once in a year eligible for the envisaged annual cap. At the same time, the ministry is considering raising the ceiling on out-of-pocket medical costs of outpatients aged 70 or over who are general pensioners from the current 18,000 yen a month and 144,000 yen a year. Also being considered is a plan to raise the minimum age eligible for the system. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]