TABLE 4.

Examples of publicly‐funded medical expenses

1. Subsidies for patients with intractable diseases and disease control

• Subsidies for treatment of 333 types of certified designated intractable diseases (as of January 2020)

• Subsidies for specified diseases, including specific chronic childhood diseases, SMON, prion diseases

2. Support for handicapped children and disabled persons

• Assistance based on the “Services and Support for Persons with Disabilities Act” and the Act for the “Mental Health and Welfare of the Persons with Mental Disorders”

3. Support for maternal and child health and improved child welfare

• Medical expense subsidization for children, including infants

4. Subsidies for patients with infectious diseases, disease control, and public health

• Subsidies for treatment of infections expected to have a major impact on the public based on the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients with Infectious Diseases

• Medical expense subsidization of treatment for hepatitis B and hepatitis C with interferon, direct acting antivirals (DAAs) and nucleic acid analog preparations

5. State reparations related to war and relief systems for injury to health from pollution

• Subsidies based on the Act for “Special Aid to the Wounded and Sick Retired Soldiers and Atomic Bomb Survivors Relief Law” and medical expense subsidization for treatment of Minamata disease

6. Public assistance and relief for economically vulnerable persons

• Medical expense subsidization for impoverished persons based on the “Public Assistance Act”