Bill to redress issue of uninsured children enacted

TOKYO, Dec. 19 Kyodo -
The Diet on Friday enacted a law to redress the issue of children without
health insurance.
A bill to revise the national health insurance law, proposed by three
opposition parties -- the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic
Party and the People's New Party -- unanimously passed a plenary session of the
House of Councillors with the backing of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
About 33,000 children of up to ninth grade in school are estimated to have no
access to the government-run health insurance program as their parents have
fallen behind in premium payments.
Under the current law, those who fail to pay the insurance premium for more
than one year are required to pay the full amount of their medical expenses up
front.
However, the revised law, to be enforced next April 1, will enable
municipalities to uniformly issue short-term insurance cards to up to
third-year students of junior high school even if their parents neglect to pay
the premium.
The card will be valid for six months. Upon expiration, the parents need to
visit the municipality to renew it, providing municipal officials opportunities
to encourage the parents to pay the premiums at an early date.
Lawmakers took the action due to concern that parents of uninsured households
are reluctant to send their children to healthcare institutions when they need
medical attention.
The lawmakers, however, decided to exclude senior high school students from the
step, citing the need to ensure fairness in the premium burden among all
households.
==Kyodo
2008-12-20 00:01:20