Chemical sensitivity syndrome to make list of gov't-insured medical conditions

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Chemical sensitivity syndrome to make list of gov't-insured medical

conditions

Mainichi Japan, June 12, 2009

 

Chemical sensitivity syndrome will make the list of illnesses used in

electronic medical charts and electronic treatment fee claim forms, it has been

learned.

 

The Medical Information System Development Center (MEDIS-DC), an

organization affiliated with the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare and the

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, is planning to make the revision

effective Oct. 1.

 

This marks the first time the government has officially recognized the

condition. Whether or not a condition is covered by health insurance is based

on this list, and the addition of chemical sensitivity (CS) syndrome is

expected to bring relief to the estimated 700,000 people who suffer from the

condition and are currently paying treatment expenses.

 

In May, the Tokyo-based organization Sick House Syndrome Liaison

Committee, which had urged the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare to

officially

recognize CS as a medical condition, was advised by the ministry to submit

an application for approval to MEDIS-DC. The committee was contacted by

MEDIS-DC on June 1 with news that it planned to add CS to the list on Oct. 1.

 

Sick house syndrome, which is a type of CS, is already covered by health

insurance. However, while sick house syndrome is triggered by indoor air

pollution from chemicals such as formaldehyde and toluene, chemicals that are

present both indoors and outdoors such as pesticides and cigarette smoke

are responsible for the onset of CS. As a result, the Health, Labor and

Welfare Ministry had heretofore, as a general rule, withheld approval of CS for

health insurance coverage citing " a lack of unified medical opinion " on the

condition.

 

The list of illnesses is revised four times a year under the supervision

of the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences. Because unlisted conditions

are in practice not covered by insurance, doctors have been seeking

payment under depression and other conditions that can be attributed to CS,

with

patients bearing an approximately 20,000 yen co-payment per consultation.

 

" There is no rule that says that an unlisted condition cannot be cited in

medical treatment fee claim forms, but it is more likely that conditions on

the list will receive approval for health insurance coverage, " said an

official at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

 

Shinobu Hirota, the director of the Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome Support

Center based in Yokohama said, " Having the condition approved will serve as

moral support to CS sufferers. "

 

Mainichi Japan, June 12, 2009

 

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