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"What do I do if I want to see a dentist in Asahikawa?" "I've got a strange growth on my foot... Oh, No!" "If I'm worried about my eyesight getting worse, what do I do?" If any of all of these questions have crossed your mind, this column's for you! Here, in our new column, "Living Healthy in Asahikawa", we provide you with some tips and information about living healthy in Asahikawa. And for the first column, the topic is… "Health Insurance"!


For foreign residents, there are two types of public medical insurance. One is the Worker's Health Insurance Plan provided by one's employer and the other is the National Health Insurance Plan managed by the municipality, Asahikawa City. If you are self-employed and plan to live longer than a year, you are supposed to enroll in the second one. Both insurance plans cover consultation for doctors, treatment, prescription, medicine, and hospitalization. They don't cover costs for regular check-ups, vaccination, normal childbearing, abortion, cosmetic surgery, and optometry. The insurance covers 70% of the medical costs, so you have to pay for 30% of the total costs.

National Health Insurance

Talking about the National Health Insurance, the premium is based on your annual income for the previous year, and the number of people in your family. If you have just arrived in Japan, the first year's rate is very low. But you should expect an increase in your rate the next year. This means the new rate is partly balanced by the first year's very inexpensive rate.

If you have completed foreign resident registration, you can apply for enrollment in the National Health Insurance Plan. You can find the National Health Insurance counter (Insurance Division-Hoken Ka) at the Civic Department (Shimin Bu) at City Hall. When you finish your enrollment, you can receive a NHI certificate card (Kokumin Kenko Hoken Sho). You have to present this card at your first visit to the doctor. You don't have to show the card each time, but the insurance payments are collected monthly, so you should show this card to your hospital staff at the first visit of each month.

Be sure to check out the column next time as we'll be explaining the fun and exciting world of "Hospitals."

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