As Japan's population ages at an unprecedented pace and the economy fails to generate high growth, the question of who should shoulder the nation's rising health costs is becoming a bone of contention.
Health care will swallow up 30 trillion yen this year and increase at an annual pace of 4 percent to 5 percent.
A senior Finance Ministry official foreshadowed a possible direction of the health-care system when he said, "Frankly speaking, a person should not see a doctor just because he or she has a cold."