Japan Ruling Parties Agree to Curb Medical Costs by 188 B. Yen

Tokyo, Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling parties agreed Friday to seek to reduce the country’s medical costs by 188 billion yen per year, by revising the eligibility of certain drugs for insurance coverage. The agreement was struck between the policy chiefs of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai). The government plans to hammer out the details of the revised medical insurance system for pharmaceuticals based on the two parties’ agreement for implementation in the fiscal year beginning next April. They confirmed that the government will seek additional payments from patients for prescription medicines whose ingredients and effects are similar to over-the-counter drugs, while maintaining insurance coverage for them. The additional burden was set at one-fourth of drug costs. The JIP had led efforts to seek higher payments for OTC-like drugs to ease the burden of insurance premiums on the working generation. “The reform opened a path to lowering social insurance premiums,” JIP policy chief Alex Saito said. Raising patient costs for OTC-like drugs are expected to lower annual medical costs by 90 billion yen. The ruling parties selected 77 ingredients and 1,100 drugs for which patients will be asked to pay additional costs. They did not disclose specific items, but hay fever medicines, poultices and gastrointestinal drugs are set to be included. Patients buying such items will pay one-fourth of drug costs as a special fee. Ordinary out-of-pocket costs, set at 30 pct of prices in principle, will apply to the remaining three-fourths. The special fee will not be charged to people with intractable or chronic diseases and children. The ruling bloc agreement also calls for raising a special fee on patients who seek off-patent original drugs instead of generic alternatives, and promoting a “refill prescription” system in which people can repeatedly acquire the same drugs without undergoing medical checks. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]