National health insurance premium (from employee to student)

Hello everybody, I am an international student attending grad school in Kyoto. 2 months ago, I received the stack of payment slips (8 slips for the year) for the national health insurance which amounted to JPY 17,259 for the full year. I figure this is the minimum amount for a student. However, last week I received updated slips for a total of JPY 734,540 for the full year (corresponding to 61,200 a month)…

I have a bit of an unusual situation (at least it is for the Japanese administration who always have trouble dealing with those "different" cases). I started my MBA as of April and prior to that I had been working full-time (on a working visa) in Tokyo; I quit my job in March and changed my resident status to student with the immigration. I understand that this updated amount of JPY 734,540 for health insurance is based on my last year's salary and after checking my payslips it does make sense as I used to be deducted 32,000 a month (I understand that this is only half the amount and my company was paying the other half) for health insurance.

The thing is I quit my job and I'm back to being a student now, with no income. I had no problem paying that much for health insurance previously based on my salary but my current situation is completely different. I also received my inhabitant taxes a month ago and paid those with no hard feelings as I understand they correspond to my previous year earnings and I was expecting them. I was also exempted from contributing to the national pension under my student status as of April.

However, I feel like this health insurance situation does not make sense as it absolutely does not reflect my current situation. I would like to know if there is way for me to get exempted as well and pay the minimum amount only or if I pay that much, am I going to get the money back next year once they figure I had no income for 3/4 of the year? Thank you for your help !

by hantoine28

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