The Diet enacted a legislative revision Wednesday to make the national health insurance program largely applicable only to workers and their dependents residing in Japan.

The revision to the health insurance law is aimed at blocking use of the system by foreigners who have never lived in Japan, including relatives of soon-to-arrive laborers, as the country starts to accept more foreign workers to tackle labor shortages in the rapidly aging country.

If non-working spouses of public pension recipients living in Japan also wish to receive a spousal pension, the revised law now specifies that they too must reside within Japan.