Some Patients to Be Exempted from Additional Drug Payments
Tokyo, Sept. 16 (Jiji Press)--Patients with rare diseases and under prolonged treatment will be exempt from a new Japanese system that imposes additional out-of-pocket payments for prescription drugs that are similar to over-the-counter medicines, the health ministry indicated Wednesday. On the day, the ministry presented a subcommittee of the Social Security Council with draft guidelines f...
The Japanese health ministry has proposed a new system that will exempt certain patients from additional out-of-pocket payments for prescription drugs similar to over-the-counter medicines. This plan was discussed on September 16 with representatives from the Social Security Council. The guidelines, which will be put into effect starting next March, will exempt patients with specific conditions from the additional costs.
These exemptions will apply to patients who have chronic conditions requiring long-term treatment, such as individuals using moisturizers and steroid ointments to prevent recurring atopic dermatitis. However, patients diagnosed with cancers and designated intractable diseases will not be subject to the extra payments for drugs treating those diseases alone.
Under the proposed system, patients will only be required to pay 25% of the price of drugs that can be substituted with over-the-counter alternatives. Additionally, they will be responsible for paying 10-30% of the remaining 75% of the drug's cost, which is covered by the public health insurance system.
Written by urgent.news from Nippon.com News's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
