The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said that overseas compatriot students and foreign students are the “collateral damage” of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) policy of including Chinese students in the National Health Insurance (NHI) system, as they will have to payer higher contributions.
The president announced the proposals in late October, which would see Chinese students covered by the NHI scheme, but paying full premiums. The bill also removes 40 percent government subsidies on NHI premiums that are currently enjoyed by overseas compatriot students and foreign students.
The legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee discussed the amendment at a meeting yesterday.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
KMT caucus secretary-general Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said the decision would mean that overseas compatriot and foreign students would have to pay at least NT$500 more per month for NHI coverage.
Under current rules, foreign students pay about NT$750 per month, while overseas compatriot students pay less, as they enjoy subsidies from the Overseas Community Affairs Council, Chiang said.
KMT Legislators Ko Chih-en (柯志恩) and Alicia Wang (王育敏) said that as a lot of overseas compatriot students and foreign students come from Southeast Asia, the new policy would be a slap in the face to the government’s “new southbound policy.”
Invited by the KMT to share his view, Huang Chen-feng (黃振峰), a foreign student from Malaysia studying at Soochow University, said he might stop studying in Taiwan if he is required to pay NT$6,000 more per year.
“I would hope that public hearings could be held before a final decision is made. I’m worried that this proposal would be railroaded through just like the labor law amendments were,” he said.
Chinese student Huang Luo yu (黃洛羽) said that as most Chinese students pay NT$500 per month for private insurance, he did not “see why we have to join the NHI if it is much more expensive.”
“Chinese students cannot even take part-time jobs here,” she said, adding that Taiwan has always been known as a place of friendliness and respect to human rights and she would hate to see that image fade among Chinese students.
Lin Nan (林楠), another Chinese student invited by the KMT caucus to the press conference, said he wondered why “Tsai Ing-wen displeases a group of people whenever she undertakes a reform.”
“It is OK if we do not benefit from subsidies, but a lower premium rate, befitting policyholders our age [who are less likely to use medical resources], would be better,” he said.
“No one has helped us understand the difference between the NHI and private insurance. The Mainland Affairs Council has not much to do right now, so it could tour schools to discuss the issue,” Lin said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
RSS