RetireJapan

Since December last year, for Kyoukai Kenpo at least, new insurance cards are not issued, to encourage people to use the My Number Card instead.

But the way it is executed is... par for the course for this kind of "Digital Transformation" thing?

1. They give you a paper card with the same information as the old plastic one, and ask you to carry it with your My Number card in case there are problems reading the card. So no fewer cards, just a more flimsy one and more annoying things to take care of registering with Myna Portal. Maybe even *more* cards if you didn't previously carry your My Number card. If you don't have the paper card and My Number card doesn't scan, you can also use the app on your phone to show them the details that used to be on the card. But then you have to scan the card with your phone anyway.
   
2. You can apply for a "health insurance status confirmation card" that looks... suspiciously like the old health insurance card. But only if you "can't" use the My Number card. Valid reasons being: you don't have one, or you didn't set up the link on Myna Portal.
   

It seems that once you set up the link, you can't remove it again without submitting a paper form and waiting over 2 months. So for people who want a physical card next time they change jobs or whatever, *not* setting it up on Myna Portal might be the better option.

Personally I'm going to try the My Number card and give it 3 strikes. Hopefully 1) will go smoothly once adoption is common. I do like the idea of consolidating all the cards into one. But it might be more resilient if they actually wrote the essential details on the card... If it's trouble I'll try to cancel it, that might be a fun adventure when it comes. Hopefully not necessary. I'm not going to carry that paper card, though...

I have already linked my health card to My Number card, although after doing so, I was still told by a medical institution (can't remember which one) to provide my health insurance card. That was one or two years ago, so maybe they weren't ready then.

I also saw one of those yellow cards with a new employee at work. At first, I was confused to see such a card as I believed they wouldn't issue health cards anymore. I had to have a good look at kanjis to understand that it was actually the same but different.

I'm a big fan of the My Number system.
It has made life easier and more convenient on many levels.
As a gun owner, I often have to get 住民票 etc., and it used to be a right pain having to go to city hall each time, which is far and necessiates a half-day off work. Now I can get these forms from any convenience store within five minutes.
I wish they would somehow also amalgamate the driving license into My Number as well....