“The government is planning to reduce the health insurance copayment rate for patients with rare and severe intractable diseases, who face a heavy financial burden due to high medical expenses, to half the current level.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced today that they will gradually lower the health insurance copayment rate for these patients from the current 10% to 5%.
This initiative aims to reduce the burden to the same level as that of cancer patients.
Additionally, a new system will be implemented in the first half of this year to reduce the time required for rare disease treatments to be covered by health insurance from the existing 240 days to within 100 days.
Seventy additional rare diseases, including congenital functional short bowel syndrome, will be added to the special exemption category.
The burdensome procedure of re-registering for special exemptions every five years will be simplified, alleviating the need for submitting examinations upon re-registration for some diseases.
Furthermore, the government plans to expand the emergency importation of rare disease treatments and to establish a public production and distribution system to ensure the stable supply of essential medicines.
The government emphasized that these measures will enable patients with rare and severe intractable diseases to continue their treatment without worrying about treatment and medication costs.”