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The story
Nikkei reports that Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has settled on a policy to factor financial income — such as stock dividends and capital gains — into the calculation of out-of-pocket medical costs and insurance premiums under the late-stage elderly healthcare system, which covers people aged 75 and over. Implementation is planned for August 2029, and the change is expected to target elderly people holding a certain level of financial assets. In the 5ch Breaking News+ thread, opinions that it’s only fair to take more from wealthy seniors mixed with worries about the impact on NISA tax-free savings accounts and on the “lost generation,” and debate continued over how income would be tracked and the distinction between social insurance premiums and taxes.
Medical costs for over-75s to factor in financial income starting August 2029 — Health Ministry policy – Nikkei
October 14, 2026, 21:19
[Subscriber-only article]
Source: nikkei.com / Read the original article here
What people said
I won't live that long anyway
Same here
Let's just take it easy
The guys who keep saying 'I'm gonna die soon' are always the ones who end up living the longest
That's just how it goes
I bet I'll die before I even start collecting my pension
Abenomics sent the Nikkei average up 6x. They've got no choice but to take it from the baby boomers who dumped their retirement payouts into stocks and made a fortune lol
But if you're an idle NEET doing nothing, there's nothing to take — so they protect you with money seized from people who actually earned it
Imperial Japan isn't full-blown socialism like that 'Buzzcut Nation' (slang for North Korea, mocking Kim Jong-un's haircut) — it's more like sneaky, under-the-table socialism
It's from age 75, right?
You've already got one foot in the coffin by then, so having money doesn't do you much good anyway.
Earning a ton means nothing once you're dead lol
Stop counting on your parents' money and compete on your own ability and talent instead
Let's make Japan a meritocracy instead of a socialist state lol
Inheritance tax should logically be cut in half
Didn't your old man leave you anything?
Well, it's probably aimed at the wealthy
Just let us ants (the hardworking savers, like in the Ant and the Grasshopper fable) enjoy a comfortable retirement too
If it's NISA savings investing, it's tax-free, so that shouldn't be a problem
Better take countermeasures before this wave hits
The lost generation already got screwed over by failed government policy
and now they're going to get squeezed all the way into old age too?
People in their 40s and 50s will be the ones hitting old age next before they know it, so you'd better think carefully now about who you vote for, for your own future's sake
Why do the deadbeats who don't pay taxes get the favorable treatment?
They're already paying huge amounts in tax, so if anything
their out-of-pocket costs should be lowered instead
Honestly, it is kind of unfair lol
Shouldn't the premiums reflect it too?
Premiums will reflect it too. It's right there in the article.
Can they really build a system that automatically catches people who don't even file tax returns?
It's financial income, so that means things like dividends and gains from selling stocks.
That all gets tracked through the brokerage anyway.
Social insurance premiums are not taxes.
This is about
> stock dividends and capital gains
right?
In that case, NISA savings investment gains don't count as taxable income, so it's not an issue
Should've done this sooner
A 100% consumption tax on eating out is actually a good idea
They should just take it from old folks cruising around in Mercedes-Benzes
Lost-generation folks are going to get their welfare cut even further,
so it's basically decided they'll work until their bodies give out
The lost-generation guys are basically treated as second-class citizens at this point
Even the generations below the lost generation are in trouble too
Background and Key Points of This Topic
Under the current late-stage elderly healthcare system, out-of-pocket costs and insurance premiums are calculated mainly based on income such as pensions and wages, and financial income — like stock dividends and capital gains (excluding tax-free amounts from NISA and similar schemes) — is, in principle, not factored in. This new policy would track that financial income through securities account data and other sources and add it to the cost calculation, with the change expected to apply only to elderly people holding assets above a certain threshold. In the thread, the majority view was that wealthy seniors should be asked to shoulder a fair share, while members of the working-age “lost generation” voiced anxiety about the burden on them growing even heavier down the road. There were also posts that seemed to misunderstand how the system works — for instance, that social insurance premiums are legally treated separately from taxes, and that NISA investment gains don’t count as taxable income. Implementation is slated for August 2029, but details such as the exact asset threshold weren’t disclosed even in the original article (subscriber-only).
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Breaking News+) thread “Medical costs for over-75s to factor in financial income starting August 2029 — Health Ministry policy.”
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