In August 2007, Masuzoe was appointed as Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare. He served in this position until 2009 under three consecutive prime ministers (Shinzō Abe, Yasuo Fukuda and Tarō Asō). Abe reportedly appointed Masuzoe, a frequent critic of Abe's policies, to silence critics who would call him a factionalist. Masuzoe came under fire during his tenure for an incident in which the government failed to match 50 million pension records with their owners, which led Democratic Party of Japan head Ichirō Ozawa to call for Masuzoe's censure if he did not apologize.