By HAYATO MURAI/ Staff Writer
September 29, 2022 at 17:44 JST
A sleeping baby (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Amid Japan's declining birthrate, the government has started discussions on having older people partly fund the one-off childbirth allowance that soon will be increased.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has announced the government will significantly increase the allowance from the next fiscal year but finding ways to secure the extra funding has been difficult.
Currently, the general rule is that 420,000 yen ($2,900) is provided at the time of childbirth.
Under the current system, people 75 or older don’t have to cover the cost of the allowance as it is funded through the national health insurance or health insurance societies set up by companies for their employees, among other venues.
As Japan’s birthrate is declining further, the government will shift to a system where people across wider generations will share the burden of covering social security costs.
The cost of childbirth is beginning to exceed the allowance.
Some women in major cities have reportedly had to pay several hundred thousand yen to fill the gap between the allowance and the actual cost of giving birth.
Members of the government advisory council for building a social security system oriented to all generations proposed at a Sept. 28 meeting the idea to “share the (cost of the lumpsum childbirth allowance) across the entire health insurance system.”
The health ministry will start discussions on a detailed review of the allowance on a full-scale basis.
The government intends to secure the extra funding through the health-insurance system for older senior citizens.
It hopes to gain people’s understanding about sharing the burden of social security costs across wider generations.
The government will also consider other ways to secure extra funding for the allowance.
It will consider asking major companies’ health insurance societies to provide more funds for the allowance to ensure working-age people bear a fair amount of the cost.
It will also contemplate increasing premiums that older people pay for their health insurance.
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