A council of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has begun considering raising the maximum annual premium for the medical care system for the elderly aged 75 and over from the current 660,000 yen.

The medical system for the elderly aged 75 or over is financed by the patient's copayment at the counter.


Approximately 10% of the insurance premiums paid by those aged 75 and over come from approximately 50%,


▽ public funds from the national and local governments account for approximately 50%, and the


remaining approximately 40% is from company employees. This is covered by the support money from the insurance premiums paid by the working generation, and the burden on the working generation is getting heavier due to the increase in medical expenses for the elderly.



For this reason, the Social Security Council of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare decided at its meeting on the 28th to reduce the annual maximum amount of insurance premiums paid by people aged 75 and over according to their income, etc. to the current 660,000 in order to reduce the burden on the working generation. I confirmed that I will start considering raising from the yen.



The council plans to revise the calculation method of insurance premiums and ask elderly people with high incomes to bear a proportionate amount of the burden.



On the other hand, at the meeting on the 28th, regarding the support system from the working generation for the medical expenses of the younger elderly between the ages of 65 and 74, it was decided to increase the burden on the health insurance associations of those who work for large companies and to reduce the burden on the employees of small and medium enterprises. We also confirmed that we will proceed with consideration to lighten the burden of the "Association Kenpo" that members join.

The background to the start of consideration of raising the upper limit of insurance premiums

The Medical Care System for the Advanced Elderly is a medical care system for people aged 75 and over, with approximately 18.9 million members.



Medical expenses per person over the age of 75 were 939,000 yen last fiscal year, almost four times higher than those under the age of 75.



The co-payments at hospitals, etc., for patients are determined at 10%, 20%, or 30%, depending on their income.



Other sources of funding for the Medical Care System for the Advanced Elderly include:


▽Insurance premiums paid by people aged 75 and over account for approximately 10%,


▽Public funds from the national and local governments account for approximately 50%, and


▽The remaining 40% are paid by working generations such as office workers. The support money from the insurance premiums you pay is used.



As the population ages, the amount of support money continues to increase, putting pressure on the finances of health insurance associations and other organizations that the working generation joins.



For this reason, in order to reduce the burden on the working generation as much as possible, from the 1st of this month, the co-payment for people with a certain income or higher was raised from 10% to 20%.



The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare estimates that this will reduce annual public expenditure by 98 billion yen and support money from the working generation by 72 billion yen.



However, while the number of working-age people will continue to decline in the future, it is expected that the medical expenses of the elderly in the later stages of life will increase.



As one of the concrete measures, we will consider raising the upper limit of insurance premiums paid by people aged 75 and over according to their income from the current 660,000 yen per year.