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New Health insurance laws (anyone with personal experiences yet)


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News is trickling down the grapevine and I just found out that the laws will change in April 1st 2010. Apparently, if you work or live in Japan, you will be required to have to sign up for the NHI (national health insurance) plan regardless of if you have your own personal insurance. It will become a visa requirement when you renew.

 

This wont be a problem for ALT and JET working for the cities directly since they have been enrolled, but how many of you all have your own insurance instead of NHI?

 

From what I have been told is that they can back-charge 2 years if you are not enrolled in the program (this could be upwards around 7000USD+ for many people). For many eikaiwas, they do not provide the insurance even though its supposed to be law if you work 35 hours a week normally and there are 5+ workers in the company. So, in essence you could get slammed with a huge bill going for your visa.

 

 

Anyone just recently go for their visa that has previously not been enrolled? Any word from on your experiences? I myself need to renew before the law goes into effect but, rumor has it that they are starting to hit people with this already.

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I don't have National, but everything you've said is true. If you are to renew your visa then you must show that you are a part of that plan. Its up to each city how much they back charge but the maximum is 2 years. Thankfully I've just got a 3 yr visa so right now its not a major issue, but I'm gonna have to change sooner or later

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I have always had the National insurance since nearly the day I arrived, so won't be any different fot me. My visa is permanent residance so it wouldn't affect me anyway.

But I guess for those who don't have it, it can be a problem!

I know it is a pain in the rear though when you move and register with the new ward office, like I did when I moved earlier this year, you have to submit a Gyosencho to show that your earnings haven't changed, well if they have gone down ok, but if they have gone up you end up paying more if you go above a certain tax bracket.

Although that is a little diffent to the issue that was raised above!

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From a lawyer friend - it's still not been decided yet, due to many companies, and apparently not just eikaiwas, not enrolling their employees on this.

 

Apparently these companies are lobbying the government due to the fact that if the employee goes to visit a hospital/clinic etc, they still got 100% of the money for treatment.

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Originally Posted By: RobBright

Apparently these companies are lobbying the government due to the fact that if the employee goes to visit a hospital/clinic etc, they still got 100% of the money for treatment.


confused I'm a bit confused. Who got 100% of the money for treatment? The Employee?
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Have a read here

 

http://www.freechoice.jp/immigration2.asp

 

Quote:

FROM Immigration Bureau of Justice Ministry Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 17:01 Document # 4801055130

 

"After April 2010, the requirement at the application acceptance window is to check whether an applicant has enrolled in health insurance, which the National Health Insurance Law, the Health Insurance Law, etc. mandate that all Japanese enroll in. For example, an association-managed health insurance plan or the National Health Insurance. Private accident insurance, etc., which people may purchase when traveling abroad, is not relevant here.

 

"Enrollment status in one of the public health insurance plans can be one of the factors considered when deciding whether to grant a change of the resident status and/or in giving permission for the renewal of the residence period. However, it has been decided that the judgment must be delivered after comprehensively considering all circumstances that an applicant has in addition to the other matters described in the Guidelines.

 

"Accordingly, if a health insurance ID card is not presented, that alone cannot be sufficient reason for rejection or denial of an application."

 

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Originally Posted By: big-will
I was under the impression it was compulsory anyway...


Millions of Japanese don't pay (either). In quite a few places, the town hall will let you into the health scheme without signing up for the kokumin nenkin pension, which isn't supposed to happen.
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my mate who has been here for 7-8 years just recently signed up at the beginning of this fiscal year, he went down to the ward offce a few weeks befor the start of the new fiscal year and the guy told him to wait until the new year started and he wouldn't charge him any back pay. Apparently, surprise surprise, it differs from ward office to ward office!

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I will be going down to the city office in Nagano to see what that deal is for us here in the city. It should be interesting to find out the verdict of my status. As my company does not offer insurance to foreign employees, it was our responsiblity to find insurance. If we need to change and be on the shokai hoken plan, I could forsee it being a situation with my company if they have to pay half.

 

Also, since as I mentioned, I do not have a set schedule as the amount of time I spend in classes changes week to week. I could be working 5 hours only in a week or 30+ the next even though I have a set salary, not even sure if I qualify for the shokai. I read into the proposed plan and am more confused then ever.

 

will let you all know what happens tommorow.

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Got to the city office yesterday, and was re-directed to immigration on the matter. From the info I was able to process, they are unsure if it will go into effect. From what I was told, they said anyone getting a visa prior to Apr 1st will not get hit with any penalty. He also mentioned that if I had a visa prior to Apr 1st that I would not have to sign up for NHI until the next vias renewal.

 

But I will lean on the side of caution, as it was only one persons information, and the staff member I spoke with sounded unsure of what he was saying.

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I recently heard due to pressure from large scale employers (and also from being an incredibly stupid idea in the first place) the government has backed out of enforcing this. However, it does seem that they are still trying to push through laws to ensure everyone living in Japan is insured (as is obviously not the case seeing as my last company, who sponsored my visa, didn't even require I have insurance)

 

Either way, I'm heading back to the states in early April for the summer, so if this ends up manifesting in one way or another it may make it quite difficult to get back!

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