自公じこう維 社会しゃかい保険ほけん料りょう負担ふたん軽減けいげんに向むけ 削減さくげん可能かのうな病床びょうしょう数すうなど協議きょうぎへ

In order to realize the three-party agreement between the ruling party and the Japan Innovation Party, Prime Minister Ishiba instructed the Liberal Democratic Party to proceed with discussions in good faith.

The three parties have decided to hold concrete discussions on the 23rd, such as the number of hospital beds that can be reduced, in order to ease the burden of social insurance premiums.

The Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, and Nippon Ishin no Kai reached an agreement between their party leaders this February, and subsequently began working-level talks on social security reform, education, and the tax system. However, in the party leaders debate on the 21st, Nippon Ishin no Kais co-representative Maehara expressed dissatisfaction with the ruling parties response, saying that there has been no progress on measures such as reducing the burden of social insurance premiums.

In response to this, Prime Minister Ishiba instructed the LDP’s Policy Research Council Chairman Onodera on the 22nd to sincerely proceed with discussions in order to realize the three-party agreement.

Regarding social security reform, the Japan Innovation Party is calling for measures such as specifying the exact number of hospital beds that can be reduced to alleviate insurance premium burdens, and reviewing insurance coverage for pharmaceuticals that have the same efficacy as over-the-counter drugs.

In response, the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are moving forward with discussions on reducing the number of hospital beds, and working-level officials from the three parties are scheduled to hold concrete talks on the 23rd.

The three parties hope to reflect this in the Basic Policy, which the government aims to finalize next month, if an agreement is reached.

The ruling party and the Constitutional Democratic Party began discussions on amendments to bills related to pension system reform on the 22nd.

The outline of the amendment proposed by the Constitutional Democratic Party, which includes measures to raise the basic pension, has received positive responses within the ruling parties, and the three parties are scheduled to resume discussions early next week.