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.
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Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
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