NO MERIT IN My NUMBER HEALTH INSURANCE CARDS: HOSPITALS JAPAN SURVEY

NO MERIT IN MY NUMBER HEALTH INSURANCE CARDS: HOSPITALS JAPAN SURVEY

@Jackie San

TOKYO

About half of the hospitals that accept My Number identification cards as health insurance certificates in Japan say they see no benefit for patients, a recent labor ministry survey showed, despite the government's push for people to register for the integrated cards.

The number of people who have already adopted the cards as their health insurance certificates has surpassed 70 million, but the actual use of them remains low among patients, standing at around 4 percent, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

The government plans to scrap the current health insurance certificates in the fall of 2024 by replacing them and integrating their functions with the My Number cards, which carry a 12-digit number for each individual that links together various personal data, such as taxes and social security information.

The integrated cards allow medical institutions to view the cardholder's data, including medication prescription records and health checkups, and offer patients appropriate treatment options, the government says.

But the My Number ID system has become unpopular among the public following revelations of personal information leaks and registration errors, with some calling for health insurance certificates' phasing out to be postponed, or for the plan to be rolled back.

In the survey, conducted between July and September this year, only 29.6 percent of the 892 hospitals that have installed the new system for utilizing the cards said they are using it to view patients' health data, with consent, while 68.2 percent said they are not using the system.

Of the hospitals that use the system, 51 percent said they did not see any particular merits or did not know when asked a multiple-choice question about its benefits for patients.

Some 31.8 percent said that by using the system, they could make arrangements over redundant prescriptions or problematic mixing of medicines.

Over 42 percent also said they do not see any particular merits for the hospitals themselves, or that they do not know of any benefits.

In separate surveys targeting patients, 36.3 percent said in their mailed responses that they did not see any merit in using the cards, while 46.2 percent made similar responses online, according to the health ministry.

The My Number ID system was launched in 2016, allotting a 12-digit number to every citizen and foreign resident in Japan.

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@Jackie San