Yomiuri Shimbun file photo
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry in Tokyo
21:00 JST, December 3, 2025
Health insurance certificates, which people have shown at hospitals and pharmacy counters, are now all considered to have expired to pave the way for so-called My Number insurance cards, which combine the functions of health insurance certificates with My Number identification cards, from Tuesday.
Those who have not obtained My Number insurance cards will use “certificates of eligibility” instead.
Long-held health insurance certificates carried by company employees who are members of corporate health insurance associations technically expired Monday. Health insurance certificates for self-employed people and elderly people aged 75 or older already expired as well. Starting Tuesday, they will have to show either My Number insurance cards or certificates of eligibility, and they will need to pay 10% to 30% of their medical costs out of pocket.
To use a My Number insurance card, one has to obtain a My Number identification card at the municipality they live in and add health insurance certificate functions to the card at the Mynaportal website, or over the counter at a hospital, or by other means.
The prescription history of a patient who uses a My Number insurance card can be viewed by a doctor with the patient’s permission, which helps the doctor avoid duplicating medications.
“There are advantages for each person. We will try to keep everyone informed about it carefully,” said Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Kenichiro Ueno after a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Certificates of eligibility are meant to be sent to people who do not possess a My Number insurance card by health insurance association or other entities. The entire population of elderly people aged 75 or older should now have received the certificates, which come in various sizes and forms, such as a card type and a postcard-size version. The certificates are valid for up to five years and will be renewed without application.
As a temporary measure, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has made expired health insurance certificates valid until March next year.
“There has been no report of trouble regarding the transition,” a ministry official said.
