DPP lawmakers are sick over a proposal by the Bureau of National Health Insurance to hike premiums and say more should be done to root out inefficiency in the nation's healthcare system.
The bureau has proposed to the Department of Health raising rates for full-time workers from 4.25 percent of their monthly salary to 4.91 percent by July.
The department is evaluating the proposal before sending it to the legislature. If approved, workers would have to pay between NT$20 and NT$67 more in health premiums a month.
"Although the increase doesn't seem much for an individual, it could be a lot for a low-income family," DPP lawmaker Lin Chin-hsing (林進興) said. "Besides, it's not a good idea to make such changes when the economy is bad."
Lin made the remarks yesterday at a press conference also attended by DPP lawmakers You Ching (尤清), Chen Sheng-hung (陳勝宏) and Chen Chung-shin (陳忠信).
But while the legislators are opposed to any hike in fees, the health insurance bureau says an increase is justified.
According to Louis Liu (
Bureau officials and DPP legislative caucus members plan to discuss the issue on Monday.
Under the current rate of 4.25 percent, a worker earning NT$10,000 a month pays NT$425 in health insurance premiums. Of that amount, the worker pays 30 percent -- or in this example, NT$127.50 -- out of his or her own pocket.
The worker's company pays 60 percent, or NT$255, while the government is responsible for the remaining 10 percent, or NT$42.50.
If the rate jumps to 4.91 percent, a worker who earns NT$10,000 a month would have to pay an additional NT$20. Workers who belong to unions would have to pay as much as NT$67 in additional fees, as the union rather than the employer is responsible for insurance premiums.
Lin said he wasn't opposed to hiking rates, but said emphasis should be placed on reducing waste in the healthcare system first.
The DPP lawmaker said many factors contribute to inefficiency in the healthcare system, the primary ones being unnecessary medical examinations and prescriptions and billing fraud.
"It's a common practice for hospitals and clinics -- including state-run facilities -- to report medical expenses that are greater than the actual amount spent and the bureau just watches and does nothing," Lin said.
In addition, he said, doctors often advise patients to undergo unnecessary and expensive examinations in order to increase billings.
UNITED: The premier said Trump’s tariff comments provided a great opportunity for the private and public sectors to come together to maintain the nation’s chip advantage The government is considering ways to assist the nation’s semiconductor industry or hosting collaborative projects with the private sector after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on chips exported to the US, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. Trump on Monday told Republican members of the US Congress about plans to impose sweeping tariffs on semiconductors, steel, aluminum, copper and pharmaceuticals “in the very near future.” “It’s time for the United States to return to the system that made us richer and more powerful than ever before,” Trump said at the Republican Issues Conference in Miami, Florida. “They
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
MARITIME SECURITY: Of the 52 vessels, 15 were rated a ‘threat’ for various reasons, including the amount of time they spent loitering near subsea cables, the CGA said Taiwan has identified 52 “suspicious” Chinese-owned ships flying flags of convenience that require close monitoring if detected near the nation, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday, as the nation seeks to protect its subsea telecoms cables. The stricter regime comes after a Cameroon-flagged vessel was briefly detained by the CGA earlier this month on suspicion of damaging an international cable northeast of Taiwan. The vessel is owned by a Hong Kong-registered company with a Chinese address given for its only listed director, the CGA said previously. Taiwan fears China could sever its communication links as part of an attempt
RSS