<h3>Information will not be reflected for more than a month&#8230; What should be done now is to review the &#8220;health insurance card&#8221; itself.</h3>
 According to a report released in August by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on the integration of the mina-number card and health insurance card, the ratio of registered use of the health insurance card to the number of mina cards issued is 69.9%. The nationwide utilization rate of the miner insurance card dropped from 6.3% in April, when online eligibility verification became mandatory at medical institutions and pharmacies, to 5% in July.
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 Also in August, the Japan Health Insurance Association (Kyokai Kenpo) revealed that there are at least 400,000 cases where the Mynah Insurance Card cannot be used at the counter of medical institutions due to the inability to link the My Number with public medical insurance information.
<figure id="attachment_332149" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-332149" style="width: 4367px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="efd132bd"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/09/829e75e1050ee58f87abc5aec8ff3081.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-332149" class="wp-caption-text"> The government cites as one of the benefits of the miner insurance card that &#8220;medical treatment and drug prescriptions based on accurate data can be received, leading to the realization of high-quality medical care. But it takes a month and a half for the data to be reflected (PHOTO: AFRO)</figcaption></figure>
 The &#8220;miner insurance card is a wasteful public works project. It is utterly useless.&#8221; 
 Dr. Kazuhiro Nagao, known as a pioneer in home healthcare, takes a swipe at the government&#8217;s policy regarding the shift to the miner insurance card. 
 There is no advantage for patients or medical institutions in using the miner insurance card,&#8221; he says. Some people argue that the miner insurance card will prevent unauthorized use of the card, such as by those who use it for other purposes or impersonate others.&#8221;
 Digital Minister Taro Kono cites the effect of preventing unauthorized use as one of the benefits of the miner insurance card, saying, &#8220;Identity theft and use of the card is actually happening and causing a certain amount of damage. However, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare, the number of cases of misuse of the National Health Insurance system, such as spoofing of medical examinations, was 50 in the five years from 2005 to 2010. Is this &#8220;a fair amount of damage,&#8221; according to Kono?
 There are those who say it is good to have centralized control of drugs. The reason why these opinions are expressed is that the medication handbook does not fulfill its intended role. 
 The medication handbook was introduced in order to centralize and grasp a patient&#8217;s past drug information. So, in principle, each person should have one notebook, but some people have several notebooks at different medical institutions and pharmacies, and yet some patients do not bring their notebooks to the pharmacy. This makes it impossible for pharmacies to manage patients&#8217; duplication of medication, multiple medications, and drug combinations.
 The government emphasizes as an advantage that &#8220;medical institutions and pharmacies will be able to check the patient&#8217;s past drug information, specified health checkup information, etc., and provide appropriate medical care based on more accurate information&#8221; when a patient receives a medical examination with the miner&#8217;s insurance card. However, &#8220;past drug information and information on specified health checkups may be provided to the medical institution or pharmacy based on the consent of the patient,&#8221; and the patient is asked whether or not he or she agrees to the provision of information when he or she receives a medical examination with the miner&#8217;s insurance card.
 If the patient does not consent, he or she will be treated in the same way as with a conventional health insurance card and will have to pay a higher fee at the counter. However, even if the patient agrees, medical institutions and pharmacy doctors can only view the patient&#8217;s medical and drug information for the past three years with the miner insurance card. Moreover, it takes about a month and a half from the time a patient is examined to the time the information is reflected in the card and can be viewed.
 In the first place, there is absolutely no need to attach a my number card to a health insurance card. What should be done is to integrate the health insurance card and the medication handbook. 
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 I visited a general practitioner in Taiwan about 10 years ago, and he had already introduced a health insurance card with an IC chip. The health insurance card number was linked to basic personal information and medical information such as drug history, and was managed digitally all together. One health insurance card card serves as a medical examination ticket and a medication book for all hospitals. 
 Japan should also adopt this kind of insurance card. I think it would be desirable to have an insurance card that integrates medical information such as medical treatment and drugs, as well as the patient&#8217;s wishes such as a living will and organ donation. 
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Some in the medical field have voiced their opposition to the idea..."></div>
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<h3>If the repeal is not withdrawn, &#8220;Medical Institutions Must Decline Total Mynah Insurance Card Medical Treatment&#8221;</h3>
 Under the universal health insurance system, every citizen in Japan has an insurance card. All that is needed is to improve the function of the insurance card itself, which everyone has. Dr. Nagao insists that this is the case.
 Unfortunately, however, the Japan Medical Association has no such idea. 
<figure id="attachment_332127" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-332127" style="width: 2500px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="848c072c"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/09/487d7eecd82c046fcf1e970f94eda05d.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-332127" class="wp-caption-text"> Online eligibility verification at medical institutions and pharmacies became mandatory in April, but the national utilization rate of the miner insurance card was only 5% as of July. Still, they intend to force the transition to the miner insurance card?</figcaption></figure>
 At the regular press conference of the JMA on August 9, Chairman Yoshiro Matsumoto was asked by a reporter about the possibility of requesting an extension of the timing for the abolition of the health insurance card, to which he replied, &#8220;We do not think that is necessary at this time. He further stated, &#8220;As the JMA, we will continue to carefully explain the situation to our members and local medical associations to gain their understanding and cooperation.
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 He added, &#8220;The Medical Association is a support organization for the Liberal Democratic Party. We also make a lot of political donations. The LDP controls the amount of medical fees, so we cannot stand in their way. I hope that the medical associations will take this opportunity to stop being beholden to the ruling party and voice their objections. 
 In any case, the medical field is voicing its opposition to the introduction of a single insurance card. If the government does not reverse its policy of abolishing the insurance card, the doctors in the field should express their intention of declining all miner&#8217;s insurance card treatment. I think we should show that level of resistance. 
 The government does not want to listen to the opinions of the frontline, but we are no longer at the stage of being obsessed with mens rea. If they know that they have not gained the understanding of medical institutions and the public, the sooner they withdraw the policy of abolishing health insurance cards, the better. Because the longer it drags on, the deeper the wound will only get.&#8221;
 The purpose of abolishing the current health insurance card is becoming more and more ambiguous with every change of course made to dispel the concerns of the public and the medical and long-term care field, such as issuing a &#8220;certificate of eligibility&#8221; to those who do not have a miner insurance card, or making it unnecessary to set a PIN number for the miner cards of people with dementia and the elderly. It is no wonder that social networking sites have been criticized for the government&#8217;s vagaries, saying, &#8220;What in the world is the government trying to accomplish here?
 If Prime Minister Kishida really has the &#8220;ability to listen,&#8221; he should be listening to the voices of the medical community and the public. &#8230;&#8230;
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Kazuhiro Nagao is a physician and medical doctor. Vice President of the Japan Association for Death with Dignity and Visiting Professor at Kansai International University.&#8217; Graduated from Tokyo Medical University in 1984. After working at Osaka University Hospital and Ashiya Municipal Hospital, he opened the Nagao Clinic in Amagasaki City in 1995. He retired from the clinic this year. We know so far! Corona Vaccine Sequelae&#8221; (Takarajima-sha), &#8220;90% of illnesses can be cured just by walking! series (Yama-Keikaku-Sha) and many other books.

 Sayuri Saito

 Afro

 In August, the National Health Insurance Association of Japan revealed that there are at least 400,000 cases where the Mynah Insurance Card cannot be used at the counter of medical institutions due to the inability to link the My Number with public medical insurance information. What are the views of doctors in the field?

5% utilization rate, 400,000 cases of not being able to use the card&#8230;still a lot to be tweaked! Why &#8220;Mynah Insurance Card&#8221; is still being enforced?

5% utilization rate, 400,000 cases of not being able to use the card…still a lot to be tweaked! Why “Mynah Insurance Card” is still being enforced?

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