At least 86 municipalities in Japan are either reducing or waiving premiums for nursing care insurance from low-income residents aged 65 or older, according to a new survey conducted by Kyodo News.
Twenty-nine of the municipalities were found to be waiving premiums entirely, according to the survey, which is based on questionnaires sent to prefectural government officials in charge of nursing care insurance. The collection of premiums for nursing care insurance from those aged 65 or older started in October.
Officials in 11 of the nation's 47 prefectures also endorsed a proposal by Shizuka Kamei, chief policy planner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, that premiums of this kind for the elderly be waived or reduced throughout the country.