Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso caused a stir Monday in talks on social security reforms when he said the medical system should be changed so that the many terminal patients now using "government money" for expensive treatment "can quickly pass away."
"Such patients can keep living even if they wish to die," Aso reportedly said during a meeting of experts, only to later scramble to retract his gaffe.
"I cannot sleep well when I think of (myself receiving expensive treatments) by using government money," the gaffe-prone Aso reportedly said, apparently referring to massive government expenditures for the public health insurance system.