The government and the ruling coalition agreed Sunday to slash the medical services tariff -- which sets the fees paid by public health insurance to doctors and pharmacists -- by a record 3.16 percent in fiscal 2006.
The agreement, forged at a meeting of key government and Liberal Democratic Party officials, comes after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been calling for major cuts in the tariff since fiscal 2002.
The Japan Medical Association, a doctors' lobby, had sought a hike in the services charges but its opposition was muted in the face of calls for curbing medical service fees after the government unveiled a health care reform plan Dec. 1 requiring elderly patients to pay more for medical services.
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