Health Checkups for Expectant Mothers: Generous Support Needed for Prenatal Care

Editorial

15:48 JST, January 26, 2026

Managing the health of mother and child during pregnancy is essential for a safe delivery. However, some people feel the financial burden. It is hoped that support will be expanded and improved to allow all expectant mothers to receive health checkups without worry.

Prenatal health checkups are conducted to have pregnant women’s health and their baby’s development examined by doctors.

The checkups include tests for blood sugar, blood pressure and infections, as well as ultrasound examinations to monitor the fetus. It is considered desirable for expectant mothers to have about 14 separate sessions of these checkups during their pregnancy.

It is important to detect maternal or fetal illnesses early and facilitate timely treatment by observing the pregnancy’s progress. If expectant mothers do not receive prenatal checkups, their prenatal condition will be unknown when they give birth. That raises significant safety concerns such as possible delayed responses to complications.

For this reason, regular checkups are essential. However, as prenatal checkups are not considered medical treatment for illness, they are not covered by public health insurance. Fees for the checkups are determined at the discretion of medical institutions.

Municipalities provide subsidies for prenatal checkups at an average of about ¥110,000 per pregnant woman. While there are regional differences, the average out-of-pocket payment is said to be between ¥10,000 and ¥20,000.

As part of measures to address the low birthrate, the central government is considering allowing childbirth expenses to be covered by insurance. It is looking into making childbirth fees entirely free by having even the out-of-pocket cost covered by insurance.

If pregnant women continue to have to pay part of the cost for prenatal checkups, support cannot be labeled sufficient even if delivery fees become free.

The Children and Families Agency plans to set uniform, standard fees for prenatal checkups nationwide. The aim is to provide guidelines for the cost of necessary tests and other procedures, thereby promoting the optimization of checkup fees at medical institutions and encouraging local governments to raise the amount of subsidies.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has set desirable standards for the types of tests women should have and their timing, based on the maternal and child health law. However, the specifics of these matters are left to the discretion of each medical institution.

Under the current circumstances, it is difficult for expectant mothers to know which tests are essential and how much they cost.

Some people say even tests with low medical necessity have been performed. For example, while the ministry recommends expectant mothers receive a total of four fetal ultrasound examinations as standard practice, some medical institutions perform them at every checkup.

If the necessary tests, their frequency and the costs to ensure safe childbirth are clarified, expectant mothers are likely to receive checkups with greater understanding. As for non-standard tests, such as 3D ultrasounds that show the fetus in three dimensions, they should decide whether to receive such tests at their own expense.

 (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 26, 2026)