Editorial

15:39 JST, May 23, 2025

There have been a spate of problems surrounding the use of My Number identification cards that function as health insurance certificates. The government should strengthen measures to ensure that patients can visit medical institutions with peace of mind.

When the Japanese Medical and Dental Practitioners for the Improvement of Medical Care (Hodanren) surveyed nearly 10,000 medical institutions in 33 prefectures, it was found that 90% of them had experienced problems related to My Number insurance cards since December last year, when the government stopped issuing new paper health insurance certificates.

Sixty percent of the respondents that reported problems said that “some kanji characters are not displayed correctly,” and 40% said they experienced “poor card reader connection and authentication errors.” More than 10% reported that........

© The Japan News