RResidents in Japan

No My Number Card = no hospital in Japan now?

  • January 19, 2026

I’m currently living in Japan on a student visa, and I was refused medical treatment at a Japanese clinic because I don’t have a My Number Card. I only understand Japanese partially, so I’m a bit confused and wanted to ask here.

Has it recently become impossible to receive medical care in Japan without a My Number Card? I was able to go to a hospital just last week without any issues, so I’m wondering if there’s some kind of grace period that recently ended, or if the rules have changed.

Also, does anyone know how long it usually takes to get a My Number Card issued?

Any clarification would be really appreciated. Thanks in advance!

by givemyjeans

13 comments

  3. they should send you a physical card of some sort still when you sign up for insurance. i think it’s called a certificate of insurance or something, but it basically functions like the old card does for people who don’t have myna.

    i got it automatically.

  5. Yes, old health insurance card can’t be used anymore since last year’s December 2025. Instead my-number card should have been updated for health insurance details (took a few mins in app) before the deadline last year.

    Also, new my number card usually takes 2-3 months to arrive (but that might depend on where one applies!)

  6. The conversion has been happening for a while now. with most switching over completely to MyNa card only in the past few months. I stopped carrying my insurance card this past summer as all my regular places had switched over. Likely just that the particular clinic decided that it was time to stop accepting the old cards.

    You should have gotten a special card in the mail several months ago to take if you don’t have your MyNa card for whatever reason. I think it was a purple card, but since I only glanced at it once, I may be wrong.

    Go talk to your city hall to sort everything out and regardless of how long it takes, get the MyNa card to make your life easier.

  7. No that is definitely untrue. When you join the national health insurance plan, you’d receive a cerfiicate of eligibility (資格確認書), unless you are signed up for mynumber insurance card in the first place. So you should have that issued to you when you signed up for NHI. If you don’t have that, either you’ve just entered the country and it’s not mailed to you yet (rare), or you’re not in the NHI in the first place (which is also rare, and very bad).

    Also, clinics cannot *refuse* to treat you even if you have no insurance. You’ll just have to pay 100% out of pocket. Something weird, likely some misunderstanding, is going on here.

  8. Even without MyNumber Card you can get medical treatment and they probably did not refuse it but just said that without a proper card you have to pay in full instead only the 30% you pay with card. Still if you don’t have anything they should be able to have you pay the full price and with showing some proof they would refund you the 70% later (usually often done only within the same months or maybe the next month, some clinics might not want to deal with this and they refused you).

    When you registered for national health insurance did you receive a paper called 保険加入控え (hoken kanyu hikae, Copy of register for insurance) and the 資格確認書 (shikaku kakuninsho, Eligibility Confirmation Certificate) should have been send to you. It was the actual insurance card before but it has changed. Please check link below for details. I did this in 2010 and I cannot remember how long it took but it was a few weeks that time.

    This is a page from the Osaka Metropolitan University for new students and they write it takes some weeks and you need to receive the shikaku kakuninsho in person:

    [https://www.omu.ac.jp/campus-life/information/life/entry/](https://www.omu.ac.jp/campus-life/information/life/entry/)

    About the changes of the insurance card:

    [https://www.city.higashihiroshima.lg.jp/en/4/41464.html](https://www.city.higashihiroshima.lg.jp/en/4/41464.html)

    If not yet done, go to your city hall and the insurance counter and as to get the 資格確認書 (shikaku kakuninsho, Eligibility Confirmation Certificate) from them to get the regular 30% discounted prices for medical treatment:
    [https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_45470.html](https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/newpage_45470.html)

    Edit: changed wrongly written shiken to correct shikaku

  9. Are you definitely sure it was a My Number card? So I only moved recently, there will be a lot more people who know more about this than me. I went to hospital maybe six weeks ago, and I needed to bring my health insurance card (literally a piece of cardboard), but I didn’t need a my number card at the time. I didn’t actually get that until last week, and that isn’t directly linked to health insurance directly as far as I’m aware.

    When you registered, you should have gone through the procedure to get your health insurance sorted. I walked out on the day with the card, and a few weeks later got the stuff for paying it sent through the post. I don’t think I had actually paid for it before I needed to use it. But that’s all they needed in hospital. I know people here without a My Number card but have no issues accessing medical services.

    My My Number card – applied end of Sept, was told six weeks, hadn’t arrived by Christmas, sent City Hall a message 31 Dec via their website asking for an update, first day back after the holiday they said it was sat there waiting already. So six weeks + the time it takes for them to get to sending your notification out.

  11. My husband’s my number digital certificate expired and he had no idea he’s still going to the hospital. They just suggested it would be easier if he would update his card. Which won’t happen soon as his juminhyo is in another prefecture 😅

  13. do you know if you have national health insurance? For most people, the insurance prove is now integrated into My Number Card, without it means you don’t have insurance that you will be charged 100%.

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