Tourists and locals taking pictures at flowering cherries, a symbol of Japan, in a park in the capital Tokyo, photo: Nicolas Datiche / AFP / Profimedia
Japan aims to tighten the rules of entry into the country to combat the problem of foreign tourists who leave without paying their medical invoices, reports the press in the island country, quoted by The Independent.
The new policy could oblige visitors to procure private medical insurance and would allow immigration authorities to verify whether tourists have a history on unpaid medical invoices.
The Kyodo News agency transmits that the issue of covering foreigners will be approached in the new annual report of the Tokyo Government on economic and fiscal policy.
The Straits Times notes that it is expected that the document will clearly state that “it is expected to clearly specify that the Government will” review insurance for foreign citizens. “
As part of these stricter rules, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection is likely to share information about foreign visitors with big medical debts with the Agency for Immigration Services, allowing more rigorous entry controls.
Japan records increasing numbers of foreign visitors
International tourism in Japan has increased significantly in recent years, partially due to Yen's devaluation, and local hospitals and clinics are increasingly feeling their resources due to uninsured tourists visiting the country.
In 2024, a survey conducted by the Japanese tourism agency, conducted between October 2023 and February 2024, found that almost 30% of Japan visitors had no medical insurance during their stay.
A national poll conducted by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, which questioned about 5,500 medical units, found that 11,372 foreign visitors received medical treatment in Japan in September only. Of these, 0.8% did not pay, which led to unpaid invoices in a total value of about 61.35 million Yen ($ 427,000), according to the Japanese Mainich.
In 2022, the Tokyo Ministry of Health conducted an even wider survey. Almost 30% of the medical units that responded said they had unpaid invoices from some non-Japanese patients-a group that may include both residents of another nationality and tourists.
Foreigners living in Japan for more than three months are generally forced to enroll in the national health insurance program – a system designed for people who work on their own or are unemployed – unless they are covered by another form of public health insurance.
