The Liberal Democratic Party scored a political victory May 6 when it reached an agreement with its two non-Cabinet allies on a bill that would at least double medical bills, starting Sept. 1.

After long and heated debate, the LDP got the Social Democratic Party and New Party Sakigake to agree on revisions to the bill to reform the medical insurance system, and hopes to have it pass the Diet during the current session. The Democratic Party of Japan participated in finalizing the revision but decided not to take part in submitting the revised bill to the Diet, saying the planned burden increase will not win support.

The DPJ is still expected to vote for the bill, which is designed to cope with the financial crisis in the medical insurance system. The LDP, SDP and Sakigake agreed to charge additional fees to outpatients for prescription drugs in an effort to prevent public money from being wasted through excessive prescriptions.