Health Insurance

Shakai Hoken is a public insurance program for employees and their family members to receive medical benefits or allowance when needed e.g. in cases where they are injured or become ill outside of work. Employers pay half of the insurance premiums in this program. Please inquire about your application with your employer.

National Health Insurance (NHI) is a mutual assistance program, in which every resident pays premiums to reduce the individual burden of medical expenses in the case of sudden injury or illness.

Those who have completed alien registration in Hamamatsu and plan to stay in Japan for one year or more must join the NHI in Hamamatsu City.
Those to whom the following applies cannot join the NHI.

• Those who must enroll in an employer's health insurance program and those covered by said insurance.
• Insurants of the NHI association.
• Those under health insurance for the latter-stage elderly.
• Those who join Medical Care Insurance for the Older Senior Citizen
• Welfare recipients under the Daily Life Protection Law
• Those foreigners who are not registered in Hamamatsu City according to Alien Registration Law
• Unsupported and institutionalized children under the Child Welfare Law.

1.When Joining NHI

• When you have moved to Hamamatsu
• When a NHI insurant gives birth
• When you withdraw from your Employee Health Insurance or family members cease to be dependents
• When you stop receiving public assistance

NHI premiums must be paid from the month you become eligible for NHI and not from the month you applied, even when applying late. Medical expenses incurred during the lapse in payment will not be covered by the insurance.

2.When Withdrawing from NHI

• When you leave Japan
• When you move away from Hamamatsu
• In case of death
• When you enroll in your Employee Heath Insurance or family members become dependents
• When you start receiving public assistance

3.Other Occasions Requiring Submission of Documents

• When your address changes within Hamamatsu
• When the head of household changes
• When households separate or merge
• When you loose or damage your insurance card

Required Items

You must have your certificate of alien registration and passport to apply for NHI. If someone in your family has already joined NHI then please bring their insurance card.
Please call to find out what is required for other procedures.

Contact

Insurance premiums are based on the amount of resident tax and other conditions.
The insurance premiums paid by everyone are an important financial resource, which is added to the national subsidy to provide NHI benefits for medical expenses or lump sum birth allowances.
*Premiums should be paid by the due date.
* If you do not pay on time you may have the validity of your insurance card shortened, be asked to return your insurance card, be required to pay all costs of medical services up front and apply for a refund less your portion of the costs, or have your payment denied, or have your insurance benefits suspended.

1.Account Transfer Payment

Premiums can be paid by automatic transfer from a designated account. Please apply at a financial institution where you hold an account.

Required Items

2.Direct Payments at Financial Institutions or Convenience Store

A payment slip will be sent to the taxpayer in your family and premiums should be paid with the slip at any financial institution or convenience store. Note that you cannot make payments with the slip at Japan Post Bank (Post office).

Required Items

1.Medical Benefits

You can receive the following treatments at a discount when you show your insurance card at the reception desk of the hospital you visit when injured or ill. The difference will be covered by the NHI (Hamamatsu city).

• Examinations
• Treatments
• Medicine and injections
• Hospitalization and nursing care
• House calls or treatment from your doctor or nurse at home

2.Medical Expenses

• NHI will pay medical expenses, less your portion, when you become ill while traveling, receive treatment at a hospital not affiliated with the NHI or when you have paid the full cost of medical treatment.
• NHI will cover the cost, less your portion, of therapeutic devices, such as corsets, if they are deemed necessary by a doctor.

Lump Sum Birth Allowance

You can receive a lump sum birth allowance when you have a baby or a stillbirth after 16 weeks of pregnancy.

Funeral Allowance

Funeral allowance is paid to the person who conducts the funeral of an insured person.

Major Medical Expense

If your portion of medical expenses within a one-month period becomes too great, you can apply for and, upon acceptance, receive a refund of the portion that exceeding the set limit.
You can use NHI for injuries caused by other people such as traffic accidents.
Report traffic accidents to the police and NHI immediately. NHI cannot be used if you have accepted money for medical expenses from the other party or reached an out-of-court settlement.

High-Cost Total Expenses for Nursing Care

If one's own total payments in a year for national insurance and nursing care insurance exceed a certain sum, one can contact national insurance and apply to have the excess reimbursed (high-cost total expenses for nursing care).