Please join the petition - for the repeal of immigration guideline no. 8

In April 2010, the Immigration Bureau will begin requesting foreigners who are obligated to enroll in social insurance to present their health insurance cards as a prerequisite for visa renewal. Many foreigners in Japan choose to purchase private health insurance because it offers certain benefits that expatriates consider important and that public insurance does not cover, such as:
- payment of medical fees at international clinics in Japan
- family reunion expenses in the event of serious illness
- medical and/or political evacuation
- repatriation of remains in the event of death
- comprehensive international coverage
- payment of pharmaceuticals not covered by public insurance
These needs are not at all unreasonable for expatriates. While we fully understand the government's concern that foreigners have insurance protection, we cannot condone expatriates being forced onto public insurance by means of immigration policy, a tactic that ignores their needs and takes the humanity out of medicine. The Free Choice Foundation will therefore petition the Japanese government under Article 16 of the Constitution to revoke the new guideline.
If you are on private insurance and agree the immigration guideline is not good policy, please visit the Free Choice website for more information. While there, you are invited you to join our online petition drive by sharing your comments on the ﾂ"Declare Your Supportﾂ" form.
We also feel strongly that foreigners should not be denied access to any of the social services should they so desire enroll. That is why we are Free Choice.
We welcome your support!
Please visit Free Choice Foundation at freechoice.jp

What if Japan would introduce the precondition below?

How other countries view issues pertaining to insurance of expatriates
While many other countries require foreigners to have an expatriate insurance plan in order to be issued an initial visa, Japan has no such precondition.
...
Many countries require foreign visitors (both short- and long-term) to have this type of coverage before they are allowed to enter.
http://www.freechoice.jp/visa-insurance.asp

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It sounds fairer to me, but what should I say if I met a "no precondition for foreigners! discrimination!!" activist?

What sort of "reunion expenses" are we talking about here?
Political evacuation on a medical plan?
Which meds are not paid for on the current plan that most foreigners need?

Wondering if it is possible for freedom oriented expats, mainly Americans, to refuse the public insurance in those EU countries?

I simply think they require the visa-insurance to prevent free riders from entering there.

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Admin JP said:

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If the guideline is for renewing your visa, that implies it applies to long-term residents of Japan (more than one year). By law, all residents of Japan are required to enroll in the public insurance programme unless I am mistaken. The guideline presented seems entirely consistent with current law. It's merely giving it more teeth with regard to foreigners. I have no problem with this provision whatsoever.

This strikes me as political activity.....which I was under the impression is legally forbidden to people who are not Japanese citizens. Correct me if I am wrong.

And MO is correct; you can't legally be not enrolled. You are considered as being in the plan (and obligated for premiums and back premiums) even if you haven't gone down and signed up for it yet.

Mike Cash said:

This strikes me as political activity.....which I was under the impression is legally forbidden to people who are not Japanese citizens. Correct me if I am wrong.

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Rather hole filled thread topic aside... THIS got my attention. What exactly do you mean by this?

Mike Cash said:

You are considered as being in the plan (and obligated for premiums and back premiums) even if you haven't gone down and signed up for it yet.

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I don't think so, Mike. If you don't register for it, you cannot be obligated to pay anything. It's only after you register that they have you. Many people, foreign and Japanese, slip under the radar this way.

Glenski said:

I don't think so, Mike. If you don't register for it, you cannot be obligated to pay anything. It's only after you register that they have you. Many people, foreign and Japanese, slip under the radar this way.

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I was speaking from personal experience.

pipokun said:

freedom oriented expats, mainly Americans, to refuse the public insurance in those EU countries?
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what??? "freedom oriented expats, mainly Americans"

If you were joking it would be funny but alas, I think you are serious. The more money you have, the more freedom you have and vice-versa. It is as simple as that! Given that a much larger % of the population owns a much smaller % of the wealth in the vast majority of the EU and the EU lumpen proletariat as a % of the population is much smaller than the American, the facts strongly suggest that while Americans generally may be far more impressionable and easily manipulated, they are most certainly not "freedom loving".

In the old days slavery was politically enforced while now it is enforced by the market. Workers "who must sell themselves piecemeal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market." Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: The Manifesto of the Communist Party

Anyway, please spare the little "freedom loving" speeches for elsewhere.

Insofar as the topic at hand, as far as I know it is a legal requirement that won't be enforced. I would help out but most Japanese people (who are obviously of an extreme right-wing political persuasion) posting here and a lot of foreign lackeys who have been beaten down and abused for far too long insist that the police have the right to stop, question and demand to see the I.D. of foreigners simply due to the color of their skin. Furthermore, I have to submit to finger printing (like a common criminal) when coming into the country. This being so, even though the costs are set to go through the roof and will be a tremendous burden on working people, I will decline to help out personally.

Of course if i were a "freedom loving American" it may be different but all I need is emergency insurance as medical treatment is 100% free in my "non-freedom loving" homeland.