Japan suspends issuing paper health insurance certificates...Civil unrest still lingers.

[Anchor]
As Japan is struggling to digitize its administration, it has stopped issuing new paper health insurance certificates from today.

However, it remains to be seen how well it will respond due to the conservative atmosphere that favors analog methods and concerns about privacy.

Correspondent Kim Se-ho's report from Tokyo.

[Reporter]
Japan has decided not to issue any more paper health insurance cards that it has been using so far.

Instead, we operate an electronic insurance card that combines the insurance card function with My Number Card, the Japanese version of resident registration card.

However, to prevent confusion, paper health insurance cards can be used by December 1 next year.

[Yoshimasa Hayashi / Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary: We will promote the public's use of My Number Card health insurance while also responding to those who cannot use My Number Card health insurance card to receive insurance treatment.]

As of October, Japan's My Number card holding rate was 76%, while the use rate of electronic insurance cards was only 15.6%.

This is because distrust in the system is still great, with a series of cases in which health insurance information linked to My Number Card is in the name of others.

[Tokyo citizen: My number. I think it's a big deal that I have to bring my very important personal information whenever I go to the hospital]

It is also said that it has the advantage of easily sharing past prescriptions with medical staff and not having to get a new insurance card when moving, but
Some point out that young people who use
hospitals relatively less frequently are not very interested yet.

[Tokyo citizen: I don't know that I can't use my insurance card yet]

Confusion due to confirmation procedures at the hospital site is also expected to be inevitable for a considerable period of time.

[Hayashi Hirohaki / Surgeon: If the confirmation methods are mixed, it will be very difficult to apply, and if there is congestion, the reception may be suspended for a certain period of time and the line may be extended.]

The Japanese government plans to put the driver's license function on my number card next spring, and furthermore, it plans to allow my number card to be installed on smartphones.

It is expected that the Japanese government will be more concerned about how to make its citizens feel the trust and advantages of digital administration.

I'm Kim Se-ho from YTN in Tokyo.