The government approved a new blueprint Friday for reforming the medical system, highlighted by a plan to require people 75 and older to pay for their own health insurance.
The road map, which officials describe as a "basic principle," calls for establishment of an independent health insurance system for people over 75 by fiscal 2008, a policy aimed at alleviating the burden on the working population in an increasingly graying society.
The plan leaves open some key issues, including the overall cost to the government, the premium to be paid by policyholders and who would run the program.