Director-general of the Depart-ment of Health (DOH) Lee Ming-liang (
Lee, appearing at the Legislative Yuan to present a special report and answer legislators' interpellation, said the national health insurance program's financial problems are more serious than he had expected before taking office.
While the premiums on medical care will not be raised for the time being, Lee proposed to implement the maximum budget payment system to keep medical expenditures under control.
Under the system, a fixed amount of the government budget would be allocated to individual medical institutions.
The huge medicine expenditure deficit has been another major source of financial burden for the bureau.
Many hospitals have overcharged the bureau for medicine, requesting fee compensations at above-market prices.
To cut excessive medicine expenses, Lee said an investigation would be launched to determine reasonable prices for different medicines and price adjustments would be made to reflect changes in their cost.
Lee also said that the program would face a capital shortage as early as this month. Lee said he hoped the local governments would repay their debts to the bureau to help relieve financial pressure.
Official statistics indicate local governments owe the bureau NT$27.9 billion, which makes up the lion's share of the insurance program's deficit.
The Executive Yuan will hold a cross-ministerial meeting today to discuss the urgent repayment of health insurance debts from local governments.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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