In May, the new coronavirus was repositioned under the Infectious Diseases Act to "Class 5". Four months have passed since then, and the support measures that have been continued until now, such as the "exceptional" burden of public expenses, will be reviewed from October. However, even though it has become a "Class 5", the new corona itself has not disappeared. How will the new coronavirus system change in the future to prepare for the spread of infection? Who will be eligible for the vaccine and how much will it cost? We summarized it in detail in the Q&A.
table of contents
Q.What will change?
Q.How will the burden of therapeutic drugs change?
Q.How much does it cost if I am hospitalized?
Q.How will support for medical institutions change?
Q.What kind of support do you provide for elderly care facilities? From now on?
Q.How much is the vaccine and who is eligible?
Q.What is the reaction of medical sites and specialists?
Open Table of Contents
table of contents
table of contents
Q.What will change?
Q.How will the burden of therapeutic drugs change?
Q.How much does it cost if I am hospitalized?
Q.How will support for medical institutions change?
Q.What kind of support do you provide for elderly care facilities? From now on?
Q.How much is the vaccine and who is eligible?
Q.What is the reaction of medical sites and specialists?
Q.What will change?
A.The following support for patients and medical institutions that has continued even after the status of the new coronavirus under the Infectious Diseases Act was shifted to "Class 10" will be reviewed from October.
▽ Public expense burden
of corona treatment drugs ▽ Subsidy amount for inpatient medical expenses ▽ Subsidy
for medical institutions "hospital bed securing fee"
▽ Special addition
of medical fees to medical institutions ▽ Support for elderly facilities
Q.How will the burden of therapeutic drugs change?
A.First of all, I would like to talk about the cost of therapeutic drugs.
In response to the shift to Class 5 outpatient medical expenses, the over-the-counter portion has been revised to self-pay, while the cost of expensive therapeutic drugs has been fully borne by the public.
However, in consideration of fairness with other diseases, a certain amount of co-payment will be required from October.
Specifically, the upper limit of the out-of-pocket payment amount changes depending on the out-of-pocket payment ratio of medical expenses as follows.
▽ People with 10% of self-payment 1 yen ▽ People with 3000% of self-payment 2 yen ▽ People with 6000% of self-payment 3 yen
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in addition to treatment drugs when you go to an outpatient medical institution due to suspicion of the new corona, The combined cost of testing and medical expenses is as follows for people over 9000 years old.
▽ People with 75% of their own expenses 1,4090 yen ▽ People with 2% of their own expenses 8180,3 yen ▽ People with 1% of their own expenses 2270,<> yen
Q.How much does it cost if I am hospitalized?
A.In the unlikely event that your symptoms become severe and require hospitalization, you will be charged hospitalization medical expenses.
This cost will also be reviewed from October.
Until now, up to 10,1 yen has been subsidized after applying the "High-Cost Medical Care Benefit System" when medical expenses per month become high, but from October, the subsidy amount will be halved to a maximum of 2,10 yen.
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, if an elderly person over the age of 1 with an annual income of up to approximately 370.75 million yen is hospitalized for 7 days due to the new corona, the copayment excluding the cost of corona treatment drugs will be 3,9800 yen to 4,7600 yen, depending on income, and meals will be required separately.
Q.How will support for medical institutions change?
A.In order to prevent a shortage of medical care in the future, it is important to secure the necessary hospital beds.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has stated that it will establish a system that allows hospitalization at all of the approximately 8200,10 hospitals nationwide.
On the other hand, the system for securing hospital beds will be changed from October.
What will be reviewed is the so-called "vacancy bed compensation," which is a hospital bed securing fee to secure hospital beds in preparation for accepting people infected with the new coronavirus.
The "vacant floor compensation" was revised in May this year, but it was decided to further reduce it from October.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has decided not to pay the subsidy until the infection situation exceeds a certain standard, noting that the response by a wide range of medical institutions has expanded since the transition to Class 5.
In addition, subsidies are provided due to the spread of infection, but only when beds are secured for patients with severe symptoms, such as those who need oxygen administration or ventilators.
Of these, the maximum amount of general beds per bed per day at specified medical institutions such as university hospitals was 10,5 yen, but from October it will be reduced to 1,3 yen, reducing the amount of subsidies to 7000% of the amount until September.
However, experts have said that the management of hospitals has deteriorated due to the acceptance of patients with the new coronavirus, and that it will be even more difficult to secure hospital beds by reducing "vacancy compensation".
In addition, special measures for medical service fees that have been in place to maintain the medical care provision system for the novel coronavirus will also be reviewed.
Specifically, medical fees will be reduced to medical institutions that accept outpatients who have implemented necessary infection control measures and medical institutions that accept inpatients with severe or moderate illness.
Q.What kind of support do you provide for elderly care facilities? From now on?
A.With regard to support for facilities where elderly people at high risk of developing severe illness live, we have decided to continue support by reviewing the requirements and amount, stating that "it is necessary to maintain an environment where in-facility medical treatment can be provided to a certain extent to prevent the collapse of medical care even if the infection is calm."
Of these, the upper limit of subsidies for expenses in the event of an outbreak of an infected person will be 10,1 yen per day from October.
In addition, if an infected person recuperates in a facility, a subsidy of 4000,9 yen per infected person per day will be provided until September, and an additional 1,1 yen will be added when a cluster occurs, but from October it will be 1,10 yen per person, and the requirement to be recognized as a cluster is limited to cases where a larger number of infections have been confirmed.
Since infections tend to spread around the year-end and New Year holidays every year, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has decided to examine the status of the medical care provision system and review it in the direction of responding to infectious diseases such as seasonal influenza from April next year.
Q.How much is the vaccine and who is eligible?
A.Vaccination of the new coronavirus vaccine is carried out as a "special temporary vaccination" in which the vaccination cost is fully borne by public funds as "urgent need to prevent the spread", and even after the position under the Infectious Diseases Act was changed to Class 5 in May, vaccination continues free of charge.
From September 5, vaccination will begin for all those who wish to be over 9 months old, and until March 20 next year, they can receive vaccination without paying their own expenses.
On the other hand, it has been decided that the "special temporary vaccination" that is fully funded by public funds will end at the end of this fiscal year.
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) plans to consider whether to make vaccination with the new coronavirus vaccine a "regular vaccination" that may require some co-payments similar to seasonal influenza.
In addition, we are considering the direction of vaccination once a year between autumn and winter for those who are at high risk of severe illness, such as the elderly over 6 years old, and we will compile a final policy by the end of this year.
Q.What is the reaction of medical sites and specialists?
A.Doctors at clinics in Tokyo, who have been prescribing drugs for the new coronavirus to patients at risk of becoming seriously ill, are concerned that some people will refuse prescriptions or refrain from seeing a doctor if some of the drugs are self-paid.
Mii Clinic Yoyogi in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, accepts about 20 to 30 patients a day at the fever outpatient clinic, and the percentage of patients diagnosed as positive for the new corona was about 8% in August, but has increased to 3% since the beginning of September.
Until now, among people infected with the new corona, patients with high risk of severe illness such as those with underlying diseases, the elderly, and patients with severe symptoms have been prescribed therapeutic drugs for the new corona that can be used without co-payment, but according to doctors, many patients have relief from sore throats after taking it. It means that the fever is going down.
Toshio Miyata, President of Mii Clinic Yoyogi, said, "I think there are some unavoidable parts of the market, but the treatment for the new coronavirus is a new drug and expensive, so some people may refuse to take the medicine if they pay for part of the medicine. I'm worried that putting up with it at home will make it seriously ill."
Takao Omagari, director of the Center for International Infectious Diseases at the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, who is an expert on infectious diseases, said, "It cannot be said that the number of medical institutions accepting patients with the new coronavirus has increased sufficiently. In addition, from next month, support measures such as hospital bed securing fees will be reduced, and fewer medical institutions will accept inpatients, making it difficult to find beds. The effort of medical institutions accepting patients with the new coronavirus is still very large, so we should continue to consider how to provide support to match it."
"It is also important for people at high risk of severe illness to use appropriate therapeutic drugs to prevent medical pressure. From next month, patients will be required to pay their own expenses for therapeutic drugs, and some patients will be worried about whether to use them, so medical professionals are required to understand what kind of people should use the therapeutic drugs and communicate with patients carefully. I feel that information about the new coronavirus is decreasing, but even now, when a high-risk person is infected, it is still a life-threatening disease. I want them to recognize this and take countermeasures."