A report circulating on the Internet that foreigners can come to Taiwan for National Health Insurance-covered (NHI) HIV/AIDS treatment after living in the nation for two years is not true, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday.
The report said that Taiwan would indiscriminately allow foreigners who join the NHI to receive government-covered HIV/AIDS treatment. It said that would mean the government would be spending between NT$162,000 and NT$300,000 on each patient, creating an extra burden on the insurance system, the report said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said the report is not true, as there are conditions that foreigners must meet before they can receive HIV/AIDS treatment covered by the NHI system.
These include having a legal permit to stay in Taiwan, having joined the NHI after staying in Taiwan for six months, having a hospital-reported case of HIV/AIDS and having a medical record of self-paid HIV/AIDS treatment for two years, which costs about NT$400,000, he said.
Lo said these requirements might be even more difficult to meet than other diseases, and that instead of having to wait for two years and paying about NT$400,000, it might be cheaper for them to seek treatment in other countries.
For example, the UK and Japan do not have a required waiting period for foreigners to receive HIV/AIDS treatment covered by national health insurance, and in Thailand, generic drugs for treating HIV/AIDS are about NT$1,000 per month, much cheaper than the prices in Taiwan, he said.
The CDC said foreigners that meet the required conditions will receive government-covered HIV/AIDS treatment.
TECH SECTOR: Nvidia Corp also announced its intent to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan, with Taipei and New Taipei City each attempting to woo the US chipmaker The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy. After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said. Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
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