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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Heavier burdens dissuade patients' visit to doctors

The government bill to revise the public healthcare system was discussed heatedly in a Lower House committee meeting on April 14. At issue is that heavier burdens on patients imposed by successive governments have discouraged them from going to see a doctor.

Pointing this out, Japanese Communist Party representative Takahashi Chizuko demanded that the plan to shift heavider burdens onto senior citizens be withdrawn.

According to a survey conducted by the medical practitioners association in six prefectures in northern Japan, about 60 percent of respondents answered they "visit doctors less frequently than before" due to the April 2003 increase from 20 percent to 30 percent of medical costs wage earners must pay for treatments at hospitals.

A survey commissioned by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare also found that with the implementation of the 30 percent-burden, 19.2 percent of patients with hypertension or diabetes answered they "will reduce the number of visits to doctors."

Mizuta Kunio, the ministry's Health Insurance Bureau director, did not deny that heavier burdens clearly have an inhibitory effect on medical consultation. Takahashi emphasized, "The government must stop imposing increases in burdens especially on those who need long-term medical attention."
- Akahata, April 15, 2006