On June 14, the long-discussed healthcare reform bill was passed at the plenary session of the Upper House (after railroad voting was held at the Lower House), with the supporting parties winning the vote. Although the opposition argued that the deliberations were too short, concerned parties could not reverse the situation when faced with the supporters’ massive power.

The healthcare system reform was one of the most important political commitments that Prime Minister Jyunichiro Koizumi stuck to before his upcoming retirement in September. Since this latest Diet session was his last before retirement, enthusiasm was strong enough to accomplish his movement to pass this vote (in addition to prolonging other important bills, such as reform of Fundamental Education Law, National Referendum Act, an upgrade of the Defense Agency to the Ministry and so on).

However, this most current enactment was not so easy. During such an important period, the new pension scandal by the Social Insurance Agency was revealed in May and subsequently confused the situation. Thinking of the political situation after Koizumi’s retirement as well as the upcoming general election of the Upper House in next year, supporting parties attempted an amicable soft-landing. However, the confrontation between supporting and opposition parties was too strong, and the supporting parties ended up taking vigorous action by massive power to complete the reform.

Yoshio Mitsumori is the president and CEO for Tokyo-based ADMIS, a consultant specializing in the medical device industry. He has more than 25 years of experience in the medical industry, including positions with the Itochu Corp., U.S. Surgical, National Medical Enterprises and Century Medical. A member of RAPS, he has spoken at many industry events and worked extensively in international trade of medical products and technologies. He can be reached at [email protected].