A deregulation panel for the Abe administration is calling for introducing so-called mixed medical treatment (kongo shinryo), in which drugs and medical technologies not covered by the nation's public health insurance system will be used along with those covered by the system. The administration, which sees the medical industry as a potential growth sector, hopes to make mixed medical treatment one of the key features of the economic growth policy package that it will announce in June.
The administration should rethink this policy because it will likely not only expand the use of drugs and technologies whose safety and efficacy are uncertain but also introduce disparity between low- and high-income people concerning the quality of medical services they receive.
Under the public health insurance system, all drugs and medical technologies must undergo clinical tests to ensure their safety and efficacy before they can be covered by the insurance. Then the government sets prices for them. The aim of the public health insurance system is to ensure that everyone can afford medical services by setting the cost of drugs and treatments at reasonable levels.