Japan phases out health insurance cards in switch to My Number ID system
Japan on Tuesday fully transitioned to a system that integrates health insurance card functions into the My Number identification cards, even as challenges remain in expanding its use.
While existing insurance cards expired Monday, they can still be used at medical facilities until the end of March next year to avoid confusion, with holders continuing to pay the usual 10 to 30 percent of medical costs.
Meanwhile, those who do not have My Number cards can still receive insured care if they show a certificate proving their enrollment in health insurance.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the new system offers advantages such as allowing medical institutions to easily refer a patient’s health records and prescription history.
But a series of personal information leaks and registration errors since the introduction of the My Number ID system in 2016 have fueled public distrust, resulting in an adoption rate of less than 40 percent.
The insurance cards belonging to around 78 million people enrolled in health insurance through their place of employment expired on Monday. These cards stopped being issued on Dec. 2 last year but could still be used within a one-year grace period.
Around 70 percent of the cards of those enrolled in the National Health Insurance program — a system for the self-employed and unemployed — expired at the end of July this year, with the remainder having expired by Monday.
The number of people who have registered their My Number cards as their health insurance cards stood at 87.3 million, or 88 percent of total holders, as of the end of October, according to the ministry.
But only 37.1 percent have used the cards for health insurance, and it remains unclear if the expiration of existing insurance cards will drive adoption.