- On 11 February, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, Health, Labour
and Welfare Minister Chikara Sakaguchi, and governing parties' Secretaries-General
and the Policy Affairs Research Council heads agreed on the revision
bill to Health Insurance Law and others that would be submitted to
the current Diet session, which includes a raise in patient burden
to 30% from April 2003.
A promise that drastic reform of medical systems, such as the medical
treatment fee system and the aged person medical system, is performed
by the fiscal year 2000 was thrown into a wastebasket. Furthermore,
the agreement to increase patients' burden means to give up the responsibility
for medical system reform. The bill is absolutely unacceptable.
- This agreement proposes: 1) raising patients' burden from 20% to
30%, 2) abolishing partial burden of charges for medicine and 3) raising
a premium rate of the public health insurance from 7.5% to 8.2% on
the basis of "total remuneration system". Although the timetable
of the implementation of a raise in patients' burden is clear, areas
to be reformed are limited and neither concrete contents nor deadline
is indicated. The government promised at the Diet session in 1997
the implementation of the drastic reform within the fiscal year 2000
and it was also specified in a supplementary provision of National
Health Insurance Law as revised in 1998 that the reform be implemented
in the fiscal year 2000. The government broke its promise and even
the law. The government was again postponing the reform.
- As regards the revision bill of Health Insurance Law and others,
which are planned to be submitted to the current Diet session, there
was no agreement between the government, who insists April 2003 as
a date when raising patients' burden to 30%, and Liberal Democratic
Party, who insists that the date be determined taking into consideration
economic and employment situation. Both side compromised with wording
"when necessary" at the end of the year 2001. This agreement
is that the Secretaries-General of the governing parties accepted
Prime Minister Koizumi's opinion that raising patients' burden to
30% advances reform of a medical system. However, 30% of patients'
burden is exceptionally high among industrialized countries. Moreover,
there is no guarantee that such raise will advance reform. Contents
of the agreement essentially impute the burden to employees from who
it would be the easiest to take.
- Working people are heartily asking for the establishment of reliable
medical services where patients and doctors trust each other. Rengo
is reflecting this voice in the reform of medical system. In doing
so, Rengo would collect one million signatures in February and March
and present them to the Diet. With the one million signature-collecting
campaign, Rengo would drive the undesirable revision bill into a scrapped
bill.
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