LDP proposed crackdown on insurance non-payment

One aspect of Japan’s social welfare I appreciate is the social insurance system. My home country, Canada, has a similar system. Like the Great White North, Japan requires all residents to pay into health, pension, and unemployment insurance. In your first year of residency, you don’t pay, as you don’t have a tax record yet. The premiums start in your second year. Company employees are enrolled in 国民健康保険, kokumin kenko hoken, national health insurance. Everyone else must enroll in 社会保険, Shakai Hoken, which covers pension, health, workplace accidents, and unemployment insurance.

Mind the doors

Know your obligations

As a JET Programme participant in my first year in Japan, I didn’t think about the system, as I was a municipal employee and trusted the government office. Later, I started a contract with a private company, a dispatcher for Assistant Language Teachers. The management pressured me into enrolling in a foreign insurance company, and told me I didn’t have to pay into the Japanese system.

I found another employer within a few months and realized I’d been misinformed. That’s a polite way of saying I was tricked into buying an insurance policy I didn’t need. The new company enrolled me in the Japanese system, and I eventually covered the back-payments. That previous company? Some but not all ALT dispatch companies border on ブラク企業 burakku kigyo, unethical and sometimes illegal practices. The General Union busts a lot of the myths spread by unscrupulous employers. Take their quiz to test your knowledge of the insurance system.

Freeloader crackdown proposal

In May, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party proposed that newly arrived foreign residents prepay health insurance premiums. The LDP claims this is in response to ただ乗り tadanori, freeloaders. Statistics collected from some municipal governments indicate that 63% of foreign nationals are keeping up with insurance payments. The proposal includes creating two systems, one for Japanese nationals and another for foreigners.

More information, please

Are Japan’s municipal governments informing foreign residents? Certainly, Tokyo does on TIPS, the Tokyo Intercultural Portal Site. The information is clear and concise. The national health insurance organization, 全国健康保険協会, provides an English language PDF explaining coverage. 

Has an employer given you wrong information about social insurance obligations? Did you take the General Union's quiz? How did you score?