The Diet enacted a law Friday that will allow young children denied health insurance to get short-term access to coverage.
A bill to revise the national health insurance law, proposed by three opposition parties — the Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and Kokumin Shinto (People's New Party) — unanimously cleared the House of Councilors with backing from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
It is thought that about 33,000 children in ninth grade or below do not have access to the government-run health insurance program because their parents have failed to pay their premiums.
Under current law, those who fail to pay their premiums for more than a year are required to pay the full cost of their medical expenses up front.
The revised law, which takes effect April 1, will allow municipalities to uniformly issue short-term insurance cards to students in their third year of junior high school or younger, even if their parents neglect to pay the premium.
The card will be valid for six months. Upon expiration, the parents must visit the municipality to renew it, which gives municipal officials a chance to encourage the parents to pay up.
Lawmakers took the action due to concern that parents in uninsured households are reluctant to send children to medical facilities when they need attention.
The lawmakers, however, decided to exclude high school students, citing the need to ensure fairness in the premium burden among all households.