JIP Members Evade Payment for Health Insurance

Japan Innovation Party (JIP) released a result of its internal investigation on its members’ false payment of premier for national health insurance. It revealed that four local assembly members with the party had been involved in receiving wrong benefit in the payment. Although the party upholds reform with self-sacrifice, its members have been taking advantage of its status as politicians to save their spendings. 

The newspaper of Japan Communist Party, Akahata, firstly reported last December that some JIP local assembly members were evading payment for national health insurance by assuming board member of an incorporated association related to the insurance system. Although the premier should proportionally be paid to the volume of each income, those JIP members had been paid a smaller amount by being board member of the organization.

 

The JIP interim report released on January 7th found that four local assembly members with JIP were involved. They were two members of Hyogo Prefectural Assembly, Hirochika Nagasaki and Masao Akaishi, a member of Amagasaki City Asssembly, Kumi Nagasaki and a member of Kobe City Assembly, Yuko Nanno. They had been paying their premier of national health insurance in a discounted price.

 

Those four JIP assembly members were board members of an incorporated association called Eikyo Renmei, which promoted prevalence of knowledge about the health insurance system. Those four politicians evaded payment for national health insurance by participating in corporate health insurance which premier is cheaper than national health insurance.

 

In an example of a local assembly member whose annual income is 14,5 million yen, he or she needs to pay annual 1.09 million yen for national health insurance. However, the politician becomes a board member of incorporated association such as Eikyo Renmei, he or she receives salary from the organization and pays for corporate health insurance, instead of expensive national health insurance. The payment would be about annual 82 thousand yen, one-tenth of payment for national health insurance.

 

The JIP made investigation on its 807 local assembly members and found that those four members were involved in that inappropriate activities. Another four members were the board members of another incorporated association. Thirteen JIP members revealed that they were invited to those incorporated associations by JIP members, indicating some JIP members had deeply been connected with the escaping from insurance payment.

 

JIP has been criticized of its false governance of political funds. A former JIP member of the Upper House was indicted with a charge of fraud in accepting payment for his secretary. JIP Secretary General, Fumitake Fujita, paid for a company, which were run by his secretary, from public fund. It is dubbed that JIP is too soft for its members to be a party for strict political reform.

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