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TOKYO: The Japanese government intends to use public funds to pay for all childbirth costs, beginning the next fiscal year, as part of measures to reverse the country's declining birth rate, sources told a newspaper.
The new approach would encourage couples, especially young ones, to have babies since the government would pick up the childbirth tab, the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday.
It is also especially relevant to those who would consider pregnancy only if they can afford what they see as safer and better-equipped, but expensive, hospitals in major cities, it reported.
Another beneficiary will be medical institutions, which need no longer fear that some patients may renege on payment, leading to massive write-offs, the paper added.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party government plans to submit a Bill on the new system to a parliamentary session next year, with a view to implementing it by next summer, at the earliest , the sources said.
Under the current system, all new mothers in Japan receive a lump sum of 350,000 yen (S$5,300) from health insurance societies or other public medical insurance plan. But there is a catch - they must pay for all the delivery costs first from their own pocket.
Also, that amount is not sufficient for expenses in big hospitals, such as those in the Tokyo area, which on average charge between 450,000 and 500,000 yen for delivery services, the Yomiuri pointed out.
Experts said although an extra 100,000 yen or so does not count for much by Japanese standards, it still looms as a financial burden for many potential mothers, thus contributing to the falling birth rate.
Therefore, under the new system, the government will try to cover additional payments, which are common in big hospitals, on top of delivery costs, the Yomiuri said.
Together, these will be paid directly to the medical institutions by the insurance organisations after each delivery, eliminating the need for mothers to pay in advance. However, the system will not take care of services considered luxurious, such as meals of hotel catering standard, said the Yomiuri.
For the funding of the new system, the government is considering including 50 billion yen in the budget for the next fiscal year starting April 1, the paper added.
Meanwhile, the additional economic stimulus package unveiled last Thursday includes a plan to make all 14 prenatal checkups that pregnant women must go through free of charge, instead of just the current five.
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