National Health Insurance - Big Problem

[David McBain]

So, I have been living in Japan almost two years, and I have National Health Insurance. My premiums had been low, about 1500 Yen/month.
Recently, I received a notice that my premiums will be changed (effectively immediately) to 57000 Yen/month!
Does anyone know why that is so expensive? My salary has never exceeded 280 000 Yen/month.
What can I do? I cannot afford to pay this.

[paulh]

Premiums in the first year are based on your first years income which is technically zero, thats why its so cheap.

Second years premiums are based on your last years income taxes- you better check that you are not paying into the national pension as well.　health insurance and pension are separate payments but they are lumped together under the kosei nenkin hoken
shakai hoken I believe is the health insurance.

Check with your ward office to see what you are paying for, but usually once you are oｎ　health insurance you can not get off it, unless you show them you have an alternative plan, and even then its 50/50 whether they let you stop. It depends on the city office.

[inkansai]

I know how you feel.....i got the same invoice the other day. As you are probably aware, the National Health Insurance premiums are calculated using your city and prefecture tax premium. The maximum total amount payable for the National Health Insurance in Osaka city is 530,000 yen for one year. The system does have safety nets for low income earners, but a person with an annual income of 3.3 million yen is not considered a low income earner. In fact, the system is relatively cheap for high income earners because the maximum they have to pay is 530,000 yen a year. Unfortunately, according to my ward office, people with a city and prefecture tax premium of around 80,000 yen have an excessively high insurance premium in comparison to other income groups. It is a huge fault of the system that they are aware of. However, most salaried workers are in a shakai hoken plan, so there aren't large numbers of people complaining about the unfairness of the system.

I have heard moving to another city and not joining the National Health Insurance in the new city is away of solving the problem. Has anyone ever done this.

[Glenski]

I'm surprised that you weren't given this to pay at the BEGINNING of your second year. That's when the raised rates begin. Most of the time, it's about half of what you were asked to pay, so maybe they are imposing some sort of penalty on you just to catch up on back payments. Did you see for how long they want you to make these payments (5 months vs. 10 months, for instance)?

Maybe you have to pay so much because you have certain dependents here? I don't know your situation, but I know that you have to pay more with dependents.

Some foreigners have been able to negotiate with the ward office on how much they can pay. How much depends not only on your last year's salary (or at least how much you DECLARE). It also depends on where you live, including what part of the city. Closer to downtown means you pay more.

[jpyconnection]

You clearly didn't pay enough in the second year that's why your being nailed!!!

This shouldn't go on for too long!

Also hatever you don make sure you aren't poaying into the pensions system it's a completer waste of time and money!

FYI, I had a simmillar thing happen to me! My premiums jumped up a lot now this year they are back down!

Is it any wonder why so many people skip out on these things here?

[stevehelium]

A friend of mine had the same problem a few years back. His boss (at an eikaiwa) called a DIFFERENT city office to confirm that the bills were correct and, as many here have pointed out, they often are given your income bracket.

I heard throught his story that it is NOT possible to withdraw from the system once you start, but the "alternate" city office that was contacted advised that my friend could simply stop paying - something about Health Insurance being a "service" and, from a legal standpoint, the city could not sue for payment. So my friend stopped paying at the advice of a different city office. He still gets a bill every month (and it has been adding up quickly!) that promptly gets chucked into the rubbish bin.

I guess that is one city office's way of dealing with the unfairness of the system - theire advice - just don't pay. However, you best get some alternative health insurance just in case you get injured or sick!

Cheers,
stephen

[Blues]

Yup don`t pay and that notice that says they are going to cut off your lights and water- chuck it away. Also the one that says they are going to garnish your bank account -chuck it away. Chuck it away- must be about the dumbest advice I have ever heard. Better to go to your registered ward office and speak with them and work out a payment plan. A different ward office will tell you different things because you are not their problem-speak with the ward office where you are registered.

[David McBain]

Well, what percentage of my monthly income should my monthly bills for national health insurance be?

[Hiyodori]

David, It will vary slightly depending upon where you live, though not that much. Your yearly premiums are approximately two times the amount of local taxes paid last year, plus a fixed amount times the number of people in your household (seems to be about 30,000 yen this year). If you are 40 years of age or older you'll also have to pay more in order to cover "nursing care" (介護).

The maximum possible health insurance payment based on income is 530,000 yen/year, and up to 80,000 yen for the nursing care portion. Are you sure that you have been billed 57,000 yen per month for health insurance? Even two years of the NIH premiums should not be that high if your income is only 280,000 yen/month.

Go and speak to someone in the NIH section at your local city hall, and let us know why you got this bill.

Cheers

[David McBain]

My situation is this:
I have been in Japan for 22 months. Until last November, I worked for one of the big schools (Nova, ECC, etc) and was under their private health plan. I have no dependants and am 27 years old. I applied for National Health Insurance around March, and had made only three payments (around 1500 Yen) before being hit with with an average monthly payment of 57 390.
Also, I recently received a bill for yearly local tax. The total (per annum) is 72 000 or 18 000 every two months. This figure appears on my National Health Insurance bill too.
I will go to the ward office!
Thanks for all your comments.
Dave

[inkansai]

your health insurance premiums are calculated from April 1st to March 31st. The first advice you received in March/April was a provisional assessment because city and prefecture tax premiums aren't calculated until around May/June.

My city uses the formula below to calculate health premiums

Per-household 25,965
Per-person 34,430
City Tax X 6.40 460,800 72,000 X 6.4

Total 521195

Due to the provisional assessment being way below your actual premiums you have been given a huge bill. Next year the most you will have to pay a month is probably 44,000 yen, but still that is a huge amount. That is why income tax is so low in Japan because it basically doesn't include any social services.

[David McBain]

I went to the ward office today, and they explained they calculated exactly the same way as "inkansai" (author of prior message):
Per-household 25,965
Per-person 34,430
City Tax X 6.40 460,800 72,000 X 6.4
Total 521195
When told that I simply cannot afford this, they mentioned that it is possible to defer payment. That is, I could pay say, 5000 Yen a month, with the remainder accruing (to be paid at a later date, when I can "afford" it).
Does anyone know about this? Is it true?
Cheers,
Dave

[trip_hop]

bunkatsubarai - divided, delayed payments. Yes, it is possible - ask your WO for details. Then prepare to negotiate terms.

[jpyconnection]

Thanks for that "bunkatsubarai" TH I just used it to negotiate a payment plan for some overdue city/ken taxes from 2003!

[Hiyodori]

Inkansai and David, I would like to clarify something in your posts above, if I may. The "x 6.4" that you both state in your calculations is not 6.4 times the amount of local taxes assessed. It is 6.4% of your taxable income for the year, which works out to around twice your local income tax.

If you made 280,000 yen/month all throughout the year, and had no deductions in your gross income (everyone is allowed standard deductions and exclusions), your health insurance payment would only be 275,435 yen for the year, found with your numbers as stated above, but taking the "x 6.4" as 6.4% of taxable income. The actual result will be lower due to deductions/exemptions. I think that you should clarify things with your city hall.

For reference, here are a couple of examples that show how the calculations are made for their respective towns (in Japanese):

Kita-ku in Tokyo (based on your local tax)
http://www.city.kita.tokyo.jp/kumin/kokuho/04/0401.htm

A small city in Gifu:
http://www.city.kakamigahara.gifu.jp/madoguchi/kokuho/hokenryo/keisan.html

Cheers

[David McBain]

Thanks for the clarification Hiyodori.
Does anyone know, for a fact, if I can:
1) withdrawl/cancel national health insurance and enroll in private health insurance instead?
2) avoid paying national health insurance?
3) negotiate an affordable amount (e.g., 10 000 Yen/month) without having to payoff the remainder at a later date? I will leave Japan next year; I will not be in a position to ever pay it off.
Cheers