This Act comes into effect on October 1, 2002; provided, however, that the provisions in Article 3 adding one Article after Article 79-2 of the Act on Health and Medical Services for the Elderly come into effect on the date of promulgation, the provisions of Articles 2, 5, and 8 and of Articles 6 through 8, 33, 34, 39, 41, and 48, Article 49, paragraph (3), Article 51, Article 52, paragraph (3), and Articles 54, 67, 69, 71, 73, and 77 of the Supplementary Provisions come into effect on April 1, 2003, and the provisions of Article 61-2 of the Supplementary Provisions come into effect on the date on which the provisions of Article 15 of the Act on the Arrangement of Related Acts for the Enforcement of the Act on the Use of Information and Communications Technology in Administrative Procedures, etc. (Act No. 152 of 2002) come into effect or the date on which this Act comes into effect, whichever is later.

①The proportion of benefits pertaining to the medical care of insured persons and dependents prescribed in the individual medical insurance Acts is to be maintained at 70 percent into the future.

②In order to ensure the stable operation of the medical insurance system into the future, the government is to formulate, within fiscal year 2002, a basic policy that clarifies the specific content, procedures and annual plan for the following matters. The government is to take required measures based on that basic policy as promptly as possible (for the matter set forth in item (ii), with a target of about two years).

③The government is to clarify the specific content, procedures and annual plan for the following matters, and take required measures, with a target of about two years.

④The government is to clarify the specific content, procedures and annual plan for the following matters, and take required measures, with a target of about three years.

⑤The government is to review the health insurance services administered by the government and the organizational form of those services, with a target of about five years, and take required measures based on the results.

⑥The government is to review the following matters and take required measures based on the results.

⑦The government is to promptly commence review of the matters prescribed in paragraph (2) through the preceding paragraph, reach conclusions, and implement them in sequence.

With regard to the payment of medical expenses or high-cost medical expenses under the provisions of the Health Insurance Act prior to amendment by this Act, pertaining to medical care, provision of medication or treatment provided before the date of enforcement of this Act (for the provisions prescribed in the proviso to Article 1 of the Supplementary Provisions, those provisions; the same applies hereinafter in this Article), the provisions then in force continue to govern.

The provisions of Article 114 and Article 144 of the Health Insurance Act as amended by the provisions of Article 1 apply to insured persons whose date of childbirth is on or after the date of enforcement of this Act (hereinafter referred to as the "Effective Date"), and with regard to the lump-sum allowance for spouse's childbirth and childcare under the Health Insurance Act prior to amendment by the provisions of Article 1 for insured persons whose date of childbirth is before the Effective Date, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

Beyond what is provided for in the preceding two Articles, dispositions, procedures and other acts carried out before the Effective Date pursuant to the provisions of the Health Insurance Act prior to amendment by the provisions of Article 1 or orders based on it are deemed to be dispositions, procedures and other acts carried out pursuant to the equivalent provisions of that Act as amended by the provisions of that Article or orders based on it.

With regard to the loss of eligibility as an insured person with optional and continued coverage of a person who acquired eligibility as an insured person with optional and continued coverage (meaning an insured person with optional and continued coverage prescribed in Article 3, paragraph (4) of the Health Insurance Act as amended by the provisions of Article 1; the same applies hereinafter in this Article) before the date of enforcement of the provisions of Article 2, the provisions then in force continue to govern, notwithstanding the provisions of Article 38 of that Act as amended by the provisions of Article 2.

①With regard to the standard remuneration amount of health insurance for each month before April 1, 2003, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

②The standard remuneration amount for March of that year, determined or revised before April 1, 2003 pursuant to the provisions of Article 41, paragraph (1), Article 42, paragraph (1) or Article 43, paragraph (1) of the Health Insurance Act prior to amendment by the provisions of Article 2, is to be the standard monthly remuneration amount for each month through August of that year.

With regard to notifications and the payment of special insurance premiums pertaining to bonus, etc. (meaning bonus, etc. prescribed in Article 3, paragraph (2) of the Supplementary Provisions of the Health Insurance Act prior to amendment by the provisions of Article 2) before April 2003, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

With regard to the application of penal provisions to acts committed before the enforcement of this Act (for the provisions prescribed in the proviso to Article 1 of the Supplementary Provisions, those provisions) and to acts committed after the enforcement of the provisions prescribed in the proviso to Article 1 of the Supplementary Provisions in the cases where the provisions then in force continue to govern pursuant to the provisions of Article 8 of the Supplementary Provisions, the provisions then in force continue to govern.

Beyond what is provided for in Article 3 through the preceding Article of the Supplementary Provisions, transitional measures necessary in connection with the enforcement of this Act are specified by Cabinet Order.