The medical expenses subsidy system for infants and children is very helpful. Small children are prone to illness and injury. The medical expenses subsidy system for infants and children is used when taking them to the hospital. This article explains the outline of the medical expenses subsidy system for infants and children, the procedures, and other points you should know. If you are about to give birth, be sure to check it out! Please use it as reference.
What is the Infant Medical Expense Subsidy System? Overview of the System
The Infant Medical Care System is a system where local governments subsidize medical expenses for infants and other children. The details of the system vary depending on the local government, but all local governments provide subsidies.
When you receive medical treatment at a hospital or other facility and health insurance is applied, you pay 20% of the self-pay amount for infants and 30% for elementary school students and above. The Infant Medical Care Subsidy System is a system where local governments subsidize all or part of this self-pay amount. The
eligible ages and the method of subsidy vary depending on the local government. It is also called various names such as “child medical care subsidy” and “childcare support medical care subsidy,” but it is a very useful system that reduces the financial burden on the child-rearing generation.
What is covered
The following items are eligible for subsidy under the Infant and Child Medical Expense Subsidy System:
- Outpatient medical expenses
- Hospitalization medical expenses
- Medicine cost
However, all of these are subject to the self-payment amount covered by health insurance. Also, whether the full amount or a portion of the cost is subsidized will vary depending on the local government.
Also, the above is for Tokyo, so please check with your local government office or website for more information.
What is not covered
There are some things that are not eligible for the grant. The main ones are as follows:
- health check
- vaccination
- Medical expenses caused by third party actions
- Extra bed charges for private rooms during hospitalization, meal charges, etc.
- Medicine container fee
Basically, anything that is not covered by health insurance is not eligible for subsidies. The above also applies to Tokyo.
Important points to know about the infant medical expenses subsidy system
Now that you know the outline of the infant medical expenses subsidy system, we will introduce some important points you should know. First, we will introduce the procedure, the subsidy method and eligibility, and what happens if you use medical expenses in another municipality.
Procedure
What is the specific procedure for applying for the infant medical expenses subsidy system? The main steps are as follows.
- Understand the system of the local government where you live
- When a child is born, you will enroll in health insurance.
- Complete the procedures at the city hall, etc.
The infant medical expense subsidy system requires that you are enrolled in health insurance (national health insurance or social insurance). Once your child is born, you should enroll in health insurance as soon as possible. It is also a good idea to find out about your local government’s infant medical expense subsidy system before your child is born.
What is needed for the procedure also varies depending on the local government. Many local governments require the child’s health insurance card, a personal seal, and a household income certificate when applying.
In many local governments, you will receive information about the infant medical expense subsidy system when you submit your birth notification. It is a good idea to check what you need to bring and the details of the system at that time.
Subsidy methods and target ages vary depending on the local government!
In fact, the infant medical expense subsidy system varies in the content of the subsidy and the age of the children eligible. Infants and toddlers are children up to the age of entering elementary school, but some municipalities will provide subsidies until they graduate from junior high school! We will introduce the details.
Age range for grant assistance
As mentioned earlier, the age range for subsidies varies by municipality. For example, in the 23 wards of Tokyo, most areas cover children up to the third year of junior high school, but some cover children up to the third year of high school.
In Yokohama, the age range for hospitalization and outpatient care may differ, such as hospitalization and outpatient care for children up to the first year of elementary school and hospitalization and outpatient care for children up to the third year of junior high school. If you have small children and are planning to move, it is a good idea to do some research on these types of subsidies.
Amount of grant
Many municipalities will fully subsidize your copayment, meaning you won’t have to pay anything at the hospital counter, but there are also municipalities that will charge you a few hundred yen. This also varies from place to place.
Most municipalities in Tokyo offer it free of charge, but in Osaka Prefecture, there are cases where there are “income restrictions” that determine whether you can receive subsidies. Please check with the municipality where you live to see if your family can receive subsidies.
Be sure to check the infant and child medical expenses subsidy system!
The infant medical expense subsidy system is one of the indicators of a city that is easy to raise children in. It can reduce the burden of medical expenses for families with small children, so it is a system that you should definitely take advantage of.
However, as we have introduced, the systems vary greatly depending on the municipality. Make sure you understand the contents of your local infant medical expense subsidy system and the procedures for applying, and make effective use of it.
