Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday that his government will reconsider its plan to raise the ceiling on out-of-pocket expenses for high-cost medical care.

The government will conduct the first phase of the expense cap hike this August as planned, and make a decision by this autumn on further increases, currently scheduled for August 2026 and beyond.

Ishiba made the announcement in response to a question from Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), at a meeting of the Lower House Budget Committee.

The expense ceiling hike is slated to be conducted in three stages from this year to 2027. The prime minister said his government wants to carry out the hike, but said it plans to reduce the size of increases in 2026 and onward.

"We will decide how to share the burden of the increasing high-cost medical care expenses based on ability, after listening to the opinions of patient groups," Ishiba said.

On an existing measure to additionally reduce medical costs for people whose expenses exceed the out-of-pocket ceiling at least four times in the previous 12 months, the prime minister said his government will make sure people who become newly ill are not excluded from the measure.

The government is aiming to lower health insurance premiums — which are increasing mainly among the working people due to societal aging and rising drug prices — by increasing patients' out-of-pocket payments.

Following the first phase of the cap hike in August, people with annual incomes of ¥7 million will have their medical expenses for the first three high-cost treatments capped to about ¥88,000 per month, up by about ¥8,000 from before the hike.

But the plan has met with criticism from patient groups, and the CDP has called for a freeze on the planned hike.

"I feel very uncomfortable about (the government) pushing ahead with the increase from August," Noda said in the budget committee meeting.