Pan-blue lawmakers accused the Bureau of National Health Insur-ance yesterday of raising health insurance payments to benefit its own employees.
"The more the bureau earns, the greater the bonuses its employees get. Its employees' bonuses are derived from people's health insurance payments," said PFP Legislator Cheng San-yuan (鄭三元) in a budget review meeting at the legislature's Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee.
"These employees are greedier than rake collectors in gambling houses," Cheng said.
"Have you ever thought about the poor when increasing health insurance payments?" Cheng asked Department of Health acting head Twu Shiing-jer (
The bureau raised insurance premiums from 4.25 percent of a person's monthly salary to 4.55 percent on Sept. 1.
As a result, Cheng said, the bureau's annual income will increase by NT$30 billion and the total amount of its employees' annual bonuses will rise by NT$15 million.
KMT Legislator Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) backed Cheng by saying the bureau's inefficient employees do not deserve bonuses.
"In contrast to the bureau's poor performance, the bonuses its employees receive are unreasonably high," Hou said.
Meanwhile, PFP Legislator Lin Hui-kuan (
"The bureau is neither honest nor trustworthy," Lin said.
DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te
(
In response to lawmakers' accusations, BNHI Deputy General Manager Chen I-feng (
"Our employees have never taken a penny from NHI premiums," Chen said.
"Therefore, the increase in the NHI premiums has absolutely nothing to do with our bonuses," he said.
Chen explained that the employees do not have the same benefits system as other civil servants because the bureau is not a government institution, even though it imple-ment's government policy.
"For example, our employees have neither retirement pensions nor education bursaries for their children. These are benefits every civil servant enjoys," he said.
The bureau rewards its staff with better bonuses to compensate for those disadvantages, Chen added.
Liu Chien-hsiang (劉見祥), another BNHI deputy general manager, said the dispute about bonuses arises from the bureau's obscure identity.
"If the bureau was a governmental institution, its employees would be able to enjoy the civil servants' welfare system. Then it would not need to compensate its employees with big bonuses," Liu said.
Liu said he hoped the bureau's identity would be clarified as soon as possible.
Chen noted that staff bonuses have been the target of lawmakers' criticism for a long time.
"We would rather give up our bonuses than keep getting criticized over them," he said.
During yesterday's committee meeting, lawmakers also accused some doctors and hospitals of wasting medical resources.
In response, Twu held a press conference yesterday afternoon to announce that he was setting up a team to investigate allegations of corruption in the health system.
A Taiwanese software developer has created a generative artificial intelligence (AI) model to help people use AI without exposing sensitive data, project head Huang Chung-hsiao (黃崇校) said yesterday. Huang, a 55-year-old coder leading a US-based team, said that concerns over data privacy and security in popular generative AIs such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek motivated him to develop a personal AI assistant named “Mei.” One of the biggest security flaws with cloud-based algorithms is that users are required to hand over personal information to access the service, giving developers the opportunity to mine user data, he said. For this reason, many government agencies and
The National Fire Agency on Thursday said a series of drills simulating a magnitude 8.5 earthquake would be held in September to enhance the government’s emergency response capabilities. Since earthquakes cannot be predicted, only by continuously promoting disaster prevention measures could Taiwan enhance its resilience to earthquakes, agency Director-General Hsiao Huan-chang (蕭煥章) said in a news release. The exercises would be held to mark annual National Disaster Prevention Day on Sept. 21, the aim of which is to test Taiwan’s preparedness and improve its earthquake resilience in case of a major temblor, Hsiao said. As part of those drills, an earthquake alert would
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
STRICTER ENFORCEMENT: Taipei authorities warned against drunk cycling after a sharp rise in riding under the influence, urging greater public awareness of its illegality Taipei authorities have issued a public warning urging people not to ride bicycles after consuming alcohol, following a sharp rise in riding under the influence (DUI) cases involving bicycles. Five hundred and seven people were charged with DUI last year while riding YouBikes, personal bicycles, or other self-propelled two-wheelers — a fourfold increase from the previous year, data released by the Taipei Police Department’s Traffic Division showed. Of these, 33 cases were considered severe enough to be prosecuted under “offenses against public safety,” the data showed. Under the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例), bicycles — including YouBikes and other
RSS