Do you find the bill to be meritorious?
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Mr. Iwasawa
We feel this is a world-class bill and worth commending, although the
presence of certain shortcomings are always inevitable. The
implementation of this law will substantially improve the
current system, which is totally dependent on the
incompetency declaration approach. The new system is one of a
contractual agreement with the consent of the individual
involved rather than exclusive judgment by mental examination,
which leads to more expeditious processing of applications.
The remaining question is how best we
can we inform the general public of the new system and develop
the kind of environment that can accommodate it.
These are as
important as the actual implementation of the new
law.
Results will greatly depend on the manner of
implementation. Routine administration by judicial bureaucrats
does not sound too productive. The application of a new law such
as the Guardianship System Law may reveal problems after being
adapted, and adjustment of and amendments to the law may become
necessary.
Do you see any problems with the proposed bill at this moment?
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Mr. Iwasawa
Due consideration
to economically handicapped people is missing. Legal aid may be
one remedy, but I would like to see more a fundamental remedy by
incorporating the guardianship system and comprehensive care
insurance for aging citizens. However, this insurance now
requires premium payments by the beneficiary, which is hard for
those elderly citizens who have limited financial resources. The
insurance also has rigid limits, beyond which the beneficiary
must pay out of his pocket. So it should be mandatory that
elderly citizens have certain assets under their control to be
eligible for the benefits from a new system. This is why asset
management is such a vital aspect of the guardianship system,
and which I believe should be incorporated into the insurance
system. As an alternative, we may have to devise a
separate insurance system, which enables elderly citizens to
receive additional care for substantially lower fees. Other
problems, as I see them, stem from the inclination to depend
mental ability and financial capacity.
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