Japan to raise health insurance premium cap

November 27, 2017

Tokyo- Japan's health ministry plans to raise the cap placed on the amount of premiums paid annually by members of the national health insurance program by 40,000 yen to 770,000 yen in fiscal 2018, which starts next April, it was learned Saturday.

The cap will be lifted for the first time in two years.

Due to rising medical costs, municipalities have been raising every year the premiums collected from members of the national health insurance program, including self-employed people.

The hike of the premium cap is intended to place a heavier burden on the high-income class so as to limit the increase of premium payments by the middle class, officials said.

While each municipality decides the amount of premiums for local residents under the national health insurance program, the state sets the uniform upper limit on annual premiums.

Currently, annual premium charged on a single-person household with an annual income of 10.2 million yen on average among municipalities reaches the upper limit of 730,000 yen. The same amount is charged on those earning more.

If the limit is raised to 770,000 yen, members of the insurance program annually earning 10.65 million yen or more will pay the highest premium.

The increase of premiums collected from high-income earners is expected to allow municipalities to keep the amount of premiums at levels affordable for the middle class.

In 2008-2016, the health ministry lifted the upper limit six times, by margins of 20,000 yen to 40,000 yen. It will consider raising the cap in fiscal 2019 and beyond in view of the national health insurance program's fiscal conditions.

Meanwhile, the ministry plans to keep the cap on annual nursing care insurance premiums paid by national health insurance program members aged between 40 and 64 unchanged at 160,000 yen in fiscal 2018. Jiji Press