The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s survey of businesses has confirmed 11,610 people at 38 companies engaging in so-called “national health insurance dodging” — switching to employee health insurance by taking on nominal director positions with no real duties, in order to avoid national health insurance premiums. The scheme involves being appointed as a director for a token monthly fee of around 1,000 yen, then being billed a combined amount covering the health insurance premium plus “membership dues.” On 5channel, posters pointed to the high cost of national health insurance premiums as the underlying cause of such workarounds, while others questioned whether these numbers represent only a fraction of those actually doing this — with opinions split on how to close the loophole.
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Regarding the so-called “national health insurance dodge,” in which people take on corporate director positions to avoid paying national health insurance premiums, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that its survey of businesses confirmed the practice at 38 companies, involving 11,610 people.
Isn't this the fault of dishonest, unhealthy working-age people committing fraud, not the elderly?
3AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:44
Do people get to skip paying national health insurance for the period they were dodging it? Will there be forced collection or something?
109AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:57
Re: #3 They keep meticulous records of exactly that stuff, so they come after you like demons. It's expensive, but I've given up resisting paying — apparently it's mandatory.
6AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:46
Is this a CDP (Constitutional Democratic Party) thread? Is this a CDP thread? Is this a CDP thread? Is this a CDP thread?
43AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:09
Re: #6 More like an Ishin (Japan Innovation Party) thread lol
16AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:52
That's just the tip of the iceberg. There's still plenty of trash out there.
18AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:54
Re: #16 This scheme was uncovered through a full investigation, right?
27AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:58
Re: #18 More like a comprehensive cross-check — they probably matched My Number (Japan's national ID) records against social insurance and national health insurance payment records all at once to find non-payments.
32AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:02
Re: #18 This is just the tip of the iceberg — only the executives dodging national health insurance. They probably haven't looked into paper companies or micro-corporations.
22AnonymousSep 14, 2026 20:55
Not totally following, but what's wrong with being on employee health insurance? The company covers half, right?
29AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:00
Re: #22 The company's share counts as a business expense, which reduces corporate tax. For a sole proprietor, national health insurance and national pension premiums only qualify as a social insurance deduction.
37AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:05
Re: #22 They're doing stuff like setting the salary at 100 yen.
65AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:33
Public servants are leading the charge on this. Municipal officials do amakudari (parachuting into cushy post-retirement jobs) into incorporated associations or foundations that run gyms, libraries, and roadside stations. Their bonuses and pay end up better than when they were local government employees, and they take tons of paid leave. Since it's the countryside, they commute in their Audis and Volkswagens, living the easy life.
71AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:36
Re: #65 There's no national-health-insurance-dodging element to that.
74AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:37
Re: #65 Amakudari appointments under a public servant's name weren't covered by this survey. Even if someone's just sleeping in an NPO's director's office, it's judged as having actual work duties, so it wasn't included in this investigation.
69AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:34
38 companies but 10,000 people… Is there some kind of company that specializes in national-health-insurance-dodging schemes?
75AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:38
Re: #69 Yeah, exactly. Everyone knows about it. Were you overseas when Ishin's national-health-insurance dodging made the news?
79AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:41
Re: #75 It was Ishin, of all parties, that took the lead in bringing investment income into the scope of national health insurance taxation. Since they'd built the system for dodging national health insurance themselves, they schemed to tax everyone except themselves.
80AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:42
Re: #75 Nah, I don't watch TV so I had no idea.
76AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:38
Making it look like a legal gray-area loophole, then suddenly declaring it illegal — that's a rough move. They'll have to pay national health insurance retroactively, right?
83AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:43
Re: #76 This scheme only works by falsifying the actual facts, so it was illegal from the start. That's completely different from the fully legal micro-corporation scheme, which applies automatically even without any intent to dodge national health insurance.
90AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:47
Re: #76 Like Diet members would ever do something that inconveniences themselves, lol
112AnonymousSep 14, 2026 21:58
What matters is what kind of work was actually being done and whether it matches the pay. If you take a part-time job to get onto the minimum level of employee insurance, then rake in cash on the side as a sole proprietor with your remaining time, you could save on premiums totally cleanly!
121AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:01
Re: #112 Exactly. You could even just work at Supermarket A for barely enough income to qualify for employee insurance, then work at Supermarket B for everything else.
131AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:04
Re: #112 Well, that's literally what Re: #1 is about — doing 1,000 yen worth of "work" a month, getting paid that 1,000 yen, then paying an amount equal to the health insurance premium plus that 1,000 yen as "director's dues." They even have people submit a brief monthly report, just for show.
161AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:42
Re: #112 Get on the minimum level of employee insurance through a part-time job, then earn extra pocket money on the side doing Uber Eats deliveries or whatever — that'll keep it cheap.
134AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:07
When it comes to healthcare, they need to crack down on how the money's actually being spent, or the system won't survive. Stop using insurance at chiropractic clinics and orthopedic clinics for things that aren't real treatment.
136AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:08
Re: #134 To keep universal insurance (which favors the elderly) afloat, medical treatment fees have been slashed to the bone, and 70% of hospitals are running in the red, lol
142AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:17
Re: #136 Don't you think cracking down on chiropractic and orthopedic clinics that file fraudulent claims would help fix legitimate hospitals' deficits?
149AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:25
Re: #136 Though hospitals' customers are mostly the elderly.
135AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:08
They should really just scrap the long-term care insurance system.
137AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:09
Re: #135 Pensions, health insurance, long-term care insurance — it's all a pyramid scheme.
140AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:13
Re: #135 Long-term care insurance is a system where old people support other old people — young people have nothing to do with it.
167AnonymousSep 14, 2026 22:55
It's because the premiums are too high that people dodge national health insurance in the first place.
173AnonymousSep 14, 2026 23:04
Re: #167 If it were that expensive, you wouldn't get a monthly payout of 70,000 yen, lol
181AnonymousSep 14, 2026 23:09
Re: #167 People who don't want to work and the unemployed get to use national health insurance for just 20,000 yen a year, lol. The system itself is broken.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
With National Health Insurance, premiums based on income must be paid entirely out of pocket, whereas with employee health insurance, the cost is split between employer and employee, and the company’s share can be booked as a business expense — making this premium gap a strong incentive for “national health insurance dodging.” This survey confirmed a scheme in which a nominal director is paid around 1,000 yen a month, then billed a “director’s due” equal to the health insurance premium plus that 1,000 yen. Commenters were split on whether the figure of 38 companies and 11,610 people represents the full extent of the problem or just a fraction of it, and on how to draw the line against similar tax-saving schemes like micro-corporations. It was also pointed out that this is easily confused with legitimate ways of lawfully reducing premiums by combining part-time work with side jobs — since falsifying one’s actual work status to enroll was illegal from the very start, unlike those legal alternatives.
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