Advance care planning consultation fees might be covered by the National Health Insurance (NHI) system starting next year, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) said yesterday.
Hsueh made the remark during his opening speech at the Taiwan Academy of Hospice Palliative Medicine’s general assembly and academic seminar in Taipei.
Advance care planning refers to making decisions about healthcare preferences before becoming seriously ill, and sometimes involves creating a legal document to make sure that those wishes are carried out.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
To ensure that terminally ill patients receive dignified care, whether treated at home, a residential care facility or a hospital, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is looking at implementing three strategies, Hsueh said.
First, it is to discuss a plan to increase NHI benefits for at-home hospice and palliative medical teams, he said.
Second, the ministry encourages people to sign an advance directive form and a hospice and palliative care consent form, in line with the Patient Right to Autonomy Act (病人自主權利法) and the Hospice Palliative Medical Care Act (安寧緩和醫療條例), he said.
If one out of every 10 terminally ill people signed such forms, they would spend one day less in a hospital, which can sometimes save tens of thousands of dollars in medical expenses, he added.
However, a consultation service is usually required for signing an advance directive, which is about NT$2,000 to NT$3,000 (US$62.07 to US$93.11) per hour, Hsueh said, adding that the cost might hinder people’s willingness to complete the forms, Hsueh said.
Therefore, the ministry aims to include the fee for eligible people in the NHI coverage, but the NHI Committee must first approve it, he said, adding that the ministry would ask the NHI Administration to look at implementing the idea so it takes effect next year.
The third strategy is for hospice and palliative care to be included in the long-term care system, through the home-based primary healthcare program for people with disabilities, he said.
Hopefully, through the trust built between family physicians and at-home patients with disabilities, the patients would be willing to sign the advance directive form and the hospice and palliative care consent form, he added.
Hsueh said that as there are discussions about legalizing euthanasia, the ministry must review its hospice and palliative care policies and consider whether it has done enough to ensure that patients receive adequate healthcare.
The issue of euthanasia is also a challenge for healthcare workers, as it clashes with their core medical values of saving lives, he said, adding that the World Medical Association also opposes physicians taking part in euthanasia.
In other news, as the Cabinet approved a proposal to increase the monthly minimum wage to NT$27,470 next year, health insurance premiums for some people would also increase, the ministry said.
It said that its latest estimate showed that that the policy would affect the health insurance premiums of about 8.18 million people next year, with an average increase of NT$20 per month per person.
The NHI is expected to receive an increase of NT$5.2 billion from the increased health insurance premiums, it said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS