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Guide

Renting and buying assistive equipment

Wheelchairs, care beds, handrails, walking frames. The insurance rents rather than sells, except for bathing and toilet aids, which you buy and claim back. Which route applies is set by the item — you get a choice on four of them. At Support Levels 1–2 and Care Level 1, care beds, wheelchairs and some other items are not covered as a rule.

Rented or bought

Rented or bought is decided by the item, not by you

Thirteen items are rented, nine are bought — and you get a choice on four of them. For everything else the route is fixed.

Rented — 13 items

10–30% a month, and it counts against your monthly ceiling

Available from Support Level 1

Handrails (free-standing)RampsWalking framesWalking sticks

Not covered as a rule at Support Levels 1–2 and Care Level 1

WheelchairsWheelchair accessoriesCare bedsCare bed accessoriesPressure-sore preventionPosition-change aidsWandering sensorsTransfer lifts

This is the part people are not told. Asking to rent a care bed at Care Level 1 normally does not go through. There are exceptions the city can allow on the basis of a doctor’s findings — see below.

Not covered as a rule up to Care Level 3 (except urine-only models)

Automatic excretion processors

Bought — 9 items

Up to 100,000 yen a year, on an allowance of its own

Portable toilets and seatsReplaceable parts for excretion processorsExcretion prediction devicesBathing aidsPortable bathsSling parts for transfer liftsFixed rampsWalking frames (excluding rollators)Walking sticks (excluding crutches)

You may choose — 4 New since April 2024

Fixed rampsWalking frames (excluding rollators)Single-point sticks (excluding crutches)Multi-point sticks

Your care manager and the equipment adviser put the options to you. Roughly: the longer you will use it, the more buying makes sense.

Before you build anything A free-standing handrail can be rented, and a ramp too. No construction, nothing to restore, and it works in rented housing where building is not allowed. Check that first. Home modifications under the insurance

Why renting is the default

Bodies change. Someone who walks may stop walking; someone in rehabilitation may start again. Buying again each time would never keep up, so equipment under the insurance is rented as a rule. When something stops suiting, it goes back and is replaced.

What you buy instead are the things people would rather not have second-hand — bathing and toilet aids. Those have an allowance of their own.

GPS tracking is still being brought into the scheme

One of the thirteen items is called a wandering sensor. The name suggests a device that locates someone, but what the category actually covers is a sensor — it detects an attempt to go outside, or passage through a point indoors, and alerts the family.

The ministry is moving to bring GPS location reporting into the same category. Its own papers say the start date will be set once the equipment information system has been rebuilt, so no date is fixed yet.

You will see guidance saying GPS can be rented through the insurance. Whether your city allows it now is the insurer's decision. Ask your care manager or the city's long-term care desk. If you need something working today, a city monitoring scheme or a commercial rental may be quicker.

Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Assistive Equipment and Home Modification Review Committee, 3rd meeting (9 March 2026), paper 3

The money works differently

  • Renting — you pay 10–30% of the monthly charge, and it counts inside your monthly ceiling, sharing that allowance with home help and day services.
  • Buying — up to 100,000 yen in a financial year, on a separate allowance. You pay in full and are reimbursed 70–90% afterwards.

Purchases only qualify if made from an approved seller. The same product bought online will not be reimbursed. Check before you buy.

It goes through your care manager

Equipment is written into the care plan; you do not arrange it directly with a provider. Providers employ a certified equipment adviser who selects, fits and adjusts it. If you do not have a care manager, ask a community support centre.

When a care bed or wheelchair can be covered after all

At Support Levels 1–2 and Care Level 1, care beds, wheelchairs and several other items are not covered as a rule (see the table above). The national rules allow exceptions where:

  • the person's condition swings a lot by day or time of day (for example, the on/off effect of Parkinson's medication)
  • the condition is certain to worsen quickly (for example, terminal cancer)
  • it is medically needed to avoid serious danger (for example, preventing aspiration pneumonia, heart failure, respiratory failure from asthma attacks)

Each is decided on the basis of a doctor's findings and a judgement reached with the care manager at a care-planning meeting, which the city confirms in writing.

The paperwork is done by whoever writes the care plan (usually the care manager), with the benefits section (高齢・障害課 介護給付担当) of the ward office.

In Kawasaki, an exception applies from the day the confirmation request is submitted to the ward office, not before. If it may be needed, tell the care manager early.

If the person is in hospital and will need a care bed at discharge, see In hospital, and worried about care after discharge.

If it does not suit, change it

Say so to the care manager or the equipment adviser. Being able to change is the point of renting. Equipment left unused in a corner is the worst outcome.

The item lists and the care-level conditions are national, set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Sources for the exceptions: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; Kawasaki City.

Find your support centre Official page (Japanese)

Source: the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare · Last verified 2026-09-12. Rules change. Check the source page before you act on this. This is a plain-English summary of public information, not an official translation.

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