Ishiba Postpones Plan to Raise Medical Co-Payment Caps; Change Requires Further Revision to Draft Budget Bill

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:05 JST, March 8, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has postponed the government’s raise of the co-payment caps for patients under the high-cost medical expense benefit system, considering the possible negative impact on this summer’s election.

He judged that the planned increase of the maximum amount a patient has to pay for treatment in August would not be met with the public’s approval.

The government must again revise the draft budget for fiscal 2025, submit it to the upper house and, if it passes, submit it to the House of Representatives.

“I have decided to postpone the implementation of the overall review, including the hike scheduled for August,” Ishiba told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on Friday.

He expressed his intention to reconsider how the system should be reformed by autumn, saying, “It is not desirable to implement a review while causing anxiety to patients.”

Before his announcement, Ishiba met with executives from the Japan Federation of Cancer Patient Groups and the Japan Patients Association at the Prime Minister’s Office to listen to their opposition to the increase.

Initially, the government had planned to increase the co-payment caps for patients in three stages between August this year and August 2027 in response to rising medical costs.

Following criticism from patient groups and opposition parties, the government revised the policy twice, but has now been forced to postpone the implementation of the policy itself. The debate on the high-cost medical expense benefit system will have to start again from scratch.

With the decision to postpone, further revisions to the budget proposal will be need, as it had been expected to include the cap increase from this August.

Even within the ruling party, there was growing concern about the impact of the planned hike on the upcoming upper house election. The government and the ruling parties discussed the issue on Friday and came to the conclusion that there was no alternative but to postpone the increase.

The government decided in December to raise the cap. It then announced on Feb. 14 that it would not change the cap for those who need long-term treatment. In a Feb. 28 announcement, it said that it would raise the cap from August, but the plan for summer 2026 and later would be reconsidered.