Medical Insurance (Health Insurance) System after Retirement
If there are any retired (or about to retire) public university professors or public school teachers on this Forum, maybe you can advise me.
As a public university professor I am a member of the public school mutual aid association. Apparently my medical insurance terminates when I retire, but I can voluntarily continue for an additional 2 years.
After that I have to apply for National Health Insurance at my local municipal office.
My question is: should I continue public school mutual aid association for the additional 2 years or simply apply for National Health Insurance?
We can’t predict the future of course, but I am very healthy and have never used the medical services in Japan - except when I stabbed my hand scraping ice off my car
I retired from a private school, but the systems are probably more alike than different.
The word at the time was that if you had dependents, continuing on was better. Also, with that, continuing some health insurance add-ons was very easy (supplemental money if hospitalized, eg, for a private room). There was also some life insurance as a part of it that I had had, but on turning 65 the price went up enough for that that I did not extend that. Laziness was a factor--besides retirement itself, other things were changing, lots of different paperwork, and putting off the switch to the national health system was the lazy guy's choice.
Oddly enough, two years later when I changed over, I was in the hospital for some pretty major surgery. I think that was on 3/26, and the changeover was on 3/31–4/1, and I was still in the hospital. Wife went to city hall and did the paperwork, and said it was one of the easier things that she'd done there. And the hospital was very accommodating, they knew what was going on, and hardly blinked. (The irritant--and this is minor--was that it took maybe six months to get a bank account auto-deduction started, so until then I had monthly bills to pay and get stamped at the bank. The same thing would have happened had I switched over immediately.)
In retrospect, it didn't make much difference. Since you're healthy, maybe go ahead and switch? Or flip a coin?
After retiring from a private university, I chose to continue with the university health insurance for two years. The price per year is ¥388,000—which seems high! Now the two years are almost up, and I will necessarily switch to kokumin hoken. I hope it is cheaper. I have a pension of ¥1.9 million yen per year, plus part-time teaching earnings of about ¥1.5 million.
I also still have to pay kaigo hoken, ¥14,000/month.
If anyone has experience with a similar situation, please let me know.
To reply to my own post.
EDITED!!! I now realize that the kokumin hoken bill is for both myself and my husband, not just me alone.
I am now in my third year after retirement. For 2021, my total pension received was ¥1.9million. My part-time earnings were a similar ¥1.9million. My husband's pension is ¥1.7million, and his earnings in 2021 were ¥500,000. The health insurance (kokumin hoken) payment for 2022 will be ¥391,000. So, whatever, we're paying ¥35,200/month for two retired people.
Last edited by Zara on Tue Jul 26, 2022 3:25 am, edited 2 times in total.
Zara wrote: ↑Tue Jul 19, 2022 3:30 am
To reply to my own post.
I am now in my third year after retirement. For 2021, my total pension received was ¥1.9million. My part-time earnings were a similar ¥1.9million. My health insurance (kokumin hoken) payment for 2022 will be ¥391,000. So I am paying about 10% of my income for health insurance. It covers only me; my husband makes his own payments.
I retired from uni job at the end of this year, chose to stay on the kyosai health insurance. It is 44,000 yen a month, compared to just over 60,000 I was quoted for kokumin kenko hoken.
Health insurance is calculated based on the previous year's income, so reducing your paper income can help reduce health insurance costs.
English teacher and writer. RetireJapan founder. Avid reader.
When I retired from a private university, I was told by the uni office staff that staying In Kyosai would probably be cheaper than switching over to kokumin hoken but they didn’t provide any details. So I called the local office of kokumin hoken and they estimated my first year’s premiums based on my then salary. Sure enough, it was considerably more expensive than Kyosai so I stuck with it since they offer other benefits as well. The cost of your 2nd year, however, is likely to change greatly if you are not working full time so you will need to reassess.
1. Your Previous Provider
The amount of your Medical Insurance (Health Insurance) premiums depends on the level of your last year's total taxable Income, number of dependents, etc., up to an absolute annual maximum (Y500,000) (which then converts to a monthly payment).
If the year after your retirement, the medical insurance premium, whether your previous provider or Kokumin Kenkou Hoken, will be based on your final taxable income, and therefore will 'probably' be about the same whether you stick with your previous provider, or switch to Kokumin Kenkou Hoken, unless there are other changes in your circumstances. You can check the Kokumin Kenkou Hoken premium at the Ku-Shi-Son-Cho Yakusho.
Therefore, for the first year at least, your previous provider will probably be the better option. Kokumin Kenkou Hoken is payable over 10 months of the year, with April and May off..
2. Kokumin Kenkou Hoken,
In the second year, however, the premiums for Kokumin Kenkou Hoken based on your first year's retirement income may be significantly lower than your previous provider, which will still be priced based on your final year's income when you were still in employment.
At the end of the first year, your previous provider will notify you and give you the option to continue for a second year at the same premium, or check the premium for Kokumin Kenkou Hoken at your Ku-Shi-Son-Cho Yakusho, which would probably be cheaper based on your retirement income level instead of your final employment income level. You may compare, and choose to continue or switch.
At the end of the second year, you have to switch anyway...
Alternatively, there is a third option.
3. Coverage Under A Family Member's Medical Insurance
If you have a family member in employment that (can) provide(s) medical insurance, it may be possible and cheaper to have them include you as a dependent under their medical insurance (based on their income level). There will be an increase in their premium, but it may be less than either of the above.
Last edited by Tkydon on Sat Jul 29, 2023 3:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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This Guide to Japanese Taxes, English and Japanese Tai-Yaku 対訳, is now a little dated:
Just a quick 'Thank You' once again for the information. I posted this over 2 years ago! Retirement is like a fast approaching tsunami
As I get nearer to the inevitable day, my post-retirement plans are as unstable as the weather here in Hokkaido. Post-covid, advances in AI. Maybe I should just have ChatGPT figure it all out for me
My question is: should I continue public school mutual aid association for the additional 2 years or simply apply for National Health Insurance?
