An insurance system that requires various procedures on your own when you become independent as a freelance employee. In addition to “health insurance,” the Japanese insurance system also includes “public pension” and “long-term care insurance.” If you are a freelancer (individual business owner), you will need to switch your pension from a welfare pension to a national pension, and the method of paying taxes will be different from that of a company employee. All of these are also mandatory for all citizens. In this article, I would like to introduce the recommended health insurance that freelancers should take out.
table of contents
1. What is the recommended health insurance for freelancers?
2. What’s the deal? Recommended health insurance for freelance commentary by type
2.1 National Health Insurance
2.2 Voluntary Continuing Insurance System
2.3 Health Insurance Dependents System
2.4 Literary Arts National Health Insurance Association
3. 3. Which is better, National Health Insurance or Voluntary Renewal?
3.1 Comparison between National Health Insurance and voluntary continuation
3.2 Differences with and without dependents
4. summary
1. What is the recommended health insurance for freelancers?
What kind of health insurance can freelancers (individual business owners) choose?
[Recommended health insurance for freelancers]
・ Join the national health insurance
・ Use the voluntary continuous insurance system
・ Become a dependent of the health insurance
・ Join the literary arts national health insurance association
2. What’s the deal? Recommended health insurance for freelance commentary by type
What kind of insurance should I choose as a freelancer to reduce the burden and get the services I need? There are various conditions, but I would like to be able to compare the type of insurance that suits me best. In this chapter, I would like to explain the recommended health insurance for freelancers by type.
2.1 National Health Insurance
◆ It differs in each municipality and varies depending on the income of the previous year. It is necessary to have insurance for the number of family members.
◆ If you file a tax return in blue, you can reduce your national health insurance premiums.
National Health Insurance is an insurance that all people who do not have the company’s social insurance (health insurance) take out. Generally, self-employed people, unemployed people who are not dependents, part-time workers, etc. join, and most of the freelancers join the national health insurance. Since the insurance premium increases or decreases according to the income of the previous year, if the income is not constant like freelance, the insurance premium will be higher or lower. When I was a company employee, the insurance premium was borne by the company and the person in half, but in the case of National Health Insurance, the person must bear the full amount. Also, unlike social insurance, there is no system of dependents, and it is necessary to pay insurance premiums for the number of dependents. National Health Insurance collects about 10% of the annual income, but the premium varies depending on the municipality where you live. If you file a tax return in blue and deduct expenses firmly, the amount will be calculated after deducting expenses, and you can reduce your insurance premiums.
2.2 Voluntary continuous insurance system
◆ You can take over the health insurance when you were a company employee and continue to pay for your dependents, but the payment is doubled. Can be continued for up to 2 years.
This is a way to continue the health insurance of the health insurance association that the company was enrolled in when you retired. If you have been insured for more than 2 months before your retirement date and will become independent and freelance, you may consider this voluntary renewal insurance. In principle, it can be continued for up to 2 years. It is convenient because you can take over the existing health insurance, but since the company pays all the insurance premiums by yourself, the insurance premiums are simply doubled. With voluntary continuation, the family members who were dependent when they were office workers will also be continued. There is a fixed period for joining, and if you do not join within 20 days from the day after your retirement date, you will not be able to continue voluntarily, and if you are late for even one day, you will be withdrawn on the same day and you will not be able to continue voluntarily again. In addition, you must join another insurance system such as National Health Insurance after you lose your qualification or two years have passed since you joined.
2.3 Dependents system of health insurance
◆ How to get free insurance. If your annual income is 1.3 million yen or less and certain conditions are met, it will be the cheapest.
If your family, such as a husband, wife, or parents working as an office worker, has social insurance and you want to be dependent on them, you can have them included in the dependents. In this case, the insurance premium is free, so this is probably the cheapest way to get health insurance. It may be available when you make a small amount of money, but considering that you will support your household as a freelancer, the option to support may not be realistic. Let’s check if you meet the following conditions.
[Conditions to enter the frame of dependents]
・ Within the third degree of the insured person
・ The annual income of the dependent person is less than 1.3 million yen (annual income of less than 1.8 million yen for those aged 60 and over), and the
family (insured person) Be less than half of your annual income.
・ Living with the insured person of health insurance.
・ Join within 5 days from the day after the retirement date.
2.4 Literary Arts National Health Insurance Association
◆ A fixed premium regardless of income. The higher your income (approx. Income of 3 million yen or more), the more profitable you will be.
If you work as a freelancer, the National Health Insurance Association for Arts and Letters is popular. The National Health Insurance Association for Literature and Arts is a national health insurance system that allows people who are engaged in literary arts, art, and writing activities and who are members of the association and their families to join. The best feature is that you can continue to take out insurance at a fixed amount regardless of whether you have a lot of income or not. If you have a low income, you will have to pay a higher amount than the National Health Insurance, but the higher your income, the more profitable you will be.
[Insurance premium of the National Health Insurance Association for Arts and Letters in the first year of the decree]
・ 19,600 yen per month for union members (16,000 yen for medical treatment, 3,600 yen for support for the elderly in the latter stages)
・ 10,300 yen per month for family members (6,700 yen for medical treatment ) Elderly support money 3,600 yen)
・ Long-term care insurance premium (insured persons aged 40 to 64)
・ 4,000 yen per person per month
As a guide, if your income exceeds about 3 million yen, you should consider joining the National Health Insurance Association for Arts and Letters rather than the National Health Insurance. The qualifications for joining the National Health Insurance Association for Arts and Letters are as follows. Unlike other health insurance, you will need to submit documents that can prove that you are working in that industry.
[Eligibility to join the National Health Insurance Association for Literature and Arts]
Persons and their families who have an address in Japan, are engaged in literary arts, art and writing activities, and are members of each union member organization .
- (Source: ◆ Eligibility to join Bunmi Kokuho –Bungei Art National Health Insurance Association )
◆ Click here for a list of union member organizations
For example, if you are a freelance web designer, you must first become a member of the Japan Graphic Designers Association (JILLA) or the Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA) . For details, please refer to the website of each association.
In addition, in order to join the National Health Insurance for Literature and Arts, you are also required to submit a copy of the income tax return B and examples of works.
Please check the following for details.
◆ HP: Literary Arts National Health Insurance Association
3. 3. Which is better, National Health Insurance or Voluntary Renewal?
For many freelancers, I think the health insurance option after quitting work will be either National Health Insurance or voluntary renewal. Let’s compare the difference between the two, which should be done if you are uncertain about whether to continue voluntarily with National Health Insurance after leaving the company.
3.1 Comparison between National Health Insurance and voluntary continuation
| National Health Insurance | Arbitrary continuation | |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment conditions | Everyone who does not belong to any other insurance system | ・ I had social insurance for more than 2 months ・ I applied within 20 days after retirement |
| Subscription period | As long as the conditions are met | 2 years |
| Withdrawal conditions | When you join another insurance system | ・ When two years have passed since joining ・ When you are late for even one day ・ When you get a job and take out social insurance |
| Procedure place | Each city / ward / town / village office | Japan Health Insurance Association Prefectural Branch |
| Procedure documents | Certificate of disqualification for social insurance | Qualification application form |
| Insurance premium calculation | Depends on the city | Depends on prefecture |
| Insurance fee | Fluctuations depending on the previous year’s income (the higher the income, the higher the insurance premium) |
No change (uniform regardless of income) |
- (Reference source: National Health Insurance )
As you can see from a simple comparison between National Health Insurance and voluntary renewal, the higher the income, the higher the premium will be. Hmm. If the income of the first year of independence is expected to greatly exceed the income of the office worker, it is highly likely that it will be cheaper to keep it voluntarily. On the other hand, if your annual income is much lower than your salaryman’s income, it will be cheaper to join the National Health Insurance.
3.2 Make a difference with or without dependents
The decisive difference between National Health Insurance and voluntary continuation is the idea of dependents. Since the National Health Insurance does not have the idea of dependents, the insurance premium varies depending on the number of people who join, but with voluntary continuation, you can add an insurance card as a dependent as long as the conditions are met, and no additional insurance premium will be charged in this case. .. In other words, if you are single or have few dependents, it is better to choose National Health Insurance, and if you have many dependents, it is better to choose voluntary continuation.
4. summary
Various types of insurance that are mandatory in Japan. When I was working as a company employee, the company took out four types of social insurance: health insurance, welfare pension, workers’ accident compensation insurance, and employment insurance. The company pays 50% of the insurance premiums for health insurance and welfare pension, full amount for workers’ accident compensation insurance, and more than half for employment insurance. Freelancers have to take care of all of this themselves. Health insurance choices are very important for freelancers. If you are thinking of becoming independent, we recommend that you compare your health insurance premiums in advance and check them as soon as possible with plenty of time.
