May 30, 2026

The revised health insurance law which creates a mechanism allowing to remove OTC-like drugs (prescription drugs with similar efficacy to over-the-counter drugs) from national health insurance coverage was approved and enacted in the House of Counsillors plenary session on May 29.

The Japanese Communist Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the “Reiwa Shinsengumi” party, the parliamentary group “Okinawa Whirlwind”, and the Social Democratic Party opposed the revision. The ruling Liberal Democratic and “Ishin” parties and opposition parties, such as the Democratic Party for the People and the “Sanseito” party, supported the revision.

The government, based on the newly established mechanism, plans to exclude 1,100 OTC-like drugs from insurance coverage in March 2027, imposing on patients an additional 25% co-payment fee. The government claims that this measure will contribute to reducing the health insurance premium burden on the working generation. However, the reduction in insurance premiums amounts to only 33 yen per month, and patients with a 30% co-insurance, for example, will have to pay about 1.6 times more for medicines.

Furthermore, under JCP lawmakers’ Diet questioning, it came to light that with the new mechanism, the government can exclude medically-necessary treatments from insurance coverage as well.

During Diet deliberations, the JCP called for the revised law to be withdrawn, saying that it undermines the basic principle of the universal national health insurance system which states that universal insurance coverage ensures access to necessary and appropriate healthcare services at affordable costs.

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> FY2026 budget funding military buildup with tax hikes and cuts in social welfare enacted [April 8, 2026]