Japan Probes Disability Pension Reviews After 61 Cases Shifted to Non-Payment

Extract from The Tokyo Shimbun

January 16 2026

TOKYO – On the 16th, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced that, regarding the national disability pension paid to people with disabilities, there were 61 cases over the roughly three-month period since October last year in which eligibility was changed from payment to non-payment or similar outcomes after medical assessments were redone at the request of staff of the Japan Pension Service. Meanwhile, there were 120 cases in which decisions were changed from non-payment to payment.

In response to media reports that there were cases in which pensions initially approved based on a physician’s judgment were later re-evaluated by a different physician at the discretion of staff and ultimately changed to non-payment, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, which supervises the Japan Pension Service, began an investigation this month.

According to interim findings, physicians commissioned by the pension center prepare assessment reports by hand. When a reassessment is conducted at the request of staff, a new assessment report may be prepared. In cases where reassessment was requested, the center sometimes discarded the original assessment report on the spot. Since May 2024, however, such reports have been kept for three months.

Since fiscal year 2024, reassessments have been conducted in about 7,500 cases, roughly 1% of the total approximately 790,000 cases. Of these, the original assessment reports were confirmed at the center in 811 cases since October last year. Among those 811 cases, 61 resulted in harsher decisions, such as changes from payment approval to non-payment or suspension of payments after reassessment.