Medical fees could be cut by around 1%

December 7, 2017

Tokyo- The Japanese government is considering lowering overall medical fees under the national health insurance scheme by around one pct from the current level, informed sources told Jiji Press on Wednesday.

In the medical fee review for fiscal 2018 starting next April, the Finance Ministry is demanding a larger reduction than around 0.8 percent sought by the health ministry, the same margin as in the previous review two years before, the sources said.

The ministries will continue their dispute until the government adopts its fiscal 2018 draft budget late this month.

Government-administered medical fees are reviewed every two years. The fees include a base portion, mostly remuneration to doctors and pharmacists, and the official prices of prescription drugs.

The government plans to slightly increase the base portion in its fiscal 2018 review.

A preliminary report by the health ministry on Wednesday showed government-set prices for prescription drugs were 9.1 percent higher than the actual market prices.

Based on the actual prices, the government is expected to lower the official drug prices by 1.3 to 1.4 percent, the sources said.

Such a cut is seen lowering the government's expenses to cover medical fees by about 140 billion to 150 billion yen.

The government is therefore likely to achieve its target of curbing social security costs by some 130 billion yen in fiscal 2018, the sources said. Jiji Press