The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday made three demands for healthcare, asking the government apologize to the people, to revise “unfair” clauses in the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) and for premium calculations to be based on total household income.
“The initial design of the premium calculation was based on household income, before several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators overturned the mechanism overnight,” DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) told a press conference.
“Even former Department of Health minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) admitted in a press conference the other day that he disagreed with the legislation passed last year,” Pan said.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
“The DPP caucus does not rule out a proposal to amend the law again,” he said.
The controversial supplementary premium was added to the legislation simply for the purposes of increasing the premium base, but the unfairness of the premium calculation is obvious, DPP Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) said.
“Five types of income have been picked to be charged with the supplementary premium, but capital gains and overseas income were not included,” she said.
Under the current calculation, blue-collar workers would have to pay a bigger supplementary premium than doctors and lawyers, Wu said, adding that bonuses of more than NT$2,000 would be charged, but not non-cash awards worth the same amount.
“Those who are familiar with accounting and the premium calculation would be able to evade the supplementary premium. At the same time, ordinary people and the underprivileged would not be able to do anything about it,” she said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Chih-chang (蔡其昌) described the second-generation National Health Insurance (NHI) program as a “patchwork program” with a lack of “overall planning.”
Yaung acknowledged that he was forced into accepting the previous amendment and the Department of Health is reportedly taking steps to formulate a third-generation NHI program based on household income, DPP Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) said.
“If that is the case, the department might as well abandon the controversial second-generation program and work on a fairer system,” Hsu said.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS