Shakai/Kokumin kenko hoken? - how expensive after retirement?

[HankNeva]

Hi...Can anyone tell me what the approximate monthly Shakai/Kokumin Kenko Hokken payment would be for a a retired person not working and receiving a small Kyosai Kumia/National pension of 130,000 per month. I'm heading toward not working soon and want to get a clearer view of what my montly expenses will be.

I'm also curious of what my unmarried and early retired partner would be paying for her own health insurance?

If you know about the Kaigo Hokken that would be interesting too. Before retirement I think it was 17,000 monthly, now semi retired it's 13,000. I'm hoping it goes lower. Actually, I'm not sure why I should be paying either of these at all if I'm only getting a pension this small.

[captainspoke]

If you've just retired, or are planning to soon, you should know that these (as with local/residence tax) are based on your previous year's income. Even if you retire soon, you will have been making money since January 1st of this year, which will be taken into account when determining your 2022 premiums for those things.

It's not until your income-earning days are fully behind you that you will see the lowest premiums.

And welcome to the club--everybody continues paying for medical insurance and nursing care after retirement. 介護保険 is now automatically deducted from my pension payments, but that took a while to get going and there were payment slips at first. On the other hand, kokuminkenkohoken is now auto-deducted from my bank account, but that, too, took a few months to get going.

[HankNeva]

Thanks...my question is - after one is no longer working for a couple of years, what is that lowest premium I can expect to be paying?

[Beaglehound]

Kokumin hoken seems to have a per capita charge before income is taken into account. This link is from Shibuya for 2020 and is the best I found when I looked into it.

https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/eng/l ... de2020.pdf

Number 5 on page 3 gives a breakdown. Bottom line is, excluding kaigo hoken, each individual can expect to be paying at minimum a bit over 50k annually. It varies a little by region I think. As mentioned above, kaigo hoken still needs to be paid from 65, but whether the amounts vary much from the amounts for 40-64 year olds given in the link I don’t know.

[Zara]

About kaigo hoken. I am 67 years old, two years post-retirement from my full-time job but still with income from a part-time job. My kaigo hoken payment is about ¥12,000/month. I am waiting to find out what my kokumin hoken payment will be for this year. Last year, it was more than ¥33,000/month. This year my total income—pension plus part-time job—will be ¥3.8 million. If my math is correct, I am paying 15% of my income for health insurance and kaigo hoken. And this sum is just for me, individually. My husband pays separately.

[mighty58]

I follow this one Japanese early retiree (at 45) blogger who meticulously details hs expenses. He lives off dividends, and therefore has zero "income", so his numbers might give you an idea of the low bar. He also makes the point that while many exemptions are available to low income earners, they are not automatic and that you need to proactively seek out information and apply at the city office to reduce your bills.
Anyway, here's one of his recent posts on this topic, detailing just how far it went down in the first three years after retirement:
https://zz597.blogspot.com/2021/01/3.html?m=1

[Zara]

That blog is interesting.
Like the blogger, I am actually in my third year of retirement (retired March 31, 2019). His kokumin hoken payment went down dramatically from the second to the third year.
I'll read more.

[AreTheyTheLemmings?]

I follow this one Japanese early retiree (at 45) blogger who meticulously details hs expenses. He lives off dividends, and therefore has zero "income", so his numbers might give you an idea of the low bar. He also makes the point that while many exemptions are available to low income earners, they are not automatic and that you need to proactively seek out information and apply at the city office to reduce your bills.
Anyway, here's one of his recent posts on this topic, detailing just how far it went down in the first three years after retirement:
https://zz597.blogspot.com/2021/01/3.html?m=1

Added to my RSS feed reader. Thank you.

[RetireJapan]

I follow this one Japanese early retiree (at 45) blogger who meticulously details hs expenses.
https://zz597.blogspot.com/2021/01/3.html?m=1

That's a great find, thanks!

[HankNeva]

Kokumin hoken seems to have a per capita charge before income is taken into account. This link is from Shibuya for 2020 and is the best I found when I looked into it.

https://www.city.shibuya.tokyo.jp/eng/l ... de2020.pdf

Number 5 on page 3 gives a breakdown. Bottom line is, excluding kaigo hoken, each individual can expect to be paying at minimum a bit over 50k annually. It varies a little by region I think. As mentioned above, kaigo hoken still needs to be paid from 65, but whether the amounts vary much from the amounts for 40-64 year olds given in the link I don’t know.

You say you think 50k is the minimum health insurance annual payment, but this year when still working parttime my total social insurance premiums were 374,000. Hopefully, that would come down further when I'm only receiving my pension. Does anyone who is no longer working but living here and getting either shakkai hokken or kokumin kenko hokken have some actual data on what the annual fees are for this health insurance?

This would be helpful for budgeting out future expenses.

Thanks!