Citizens aged 30 and over are to be eligible for free health checkups every five years starting this year, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) announced today.
The latest adjustments to adult preventative healthcare services are to lower the minimum age for free health checkups from 40 to 30, which would benefit an estimated 3.2 million people between 30 and 40.
Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times
Those aged 40 to 65 are to continue to be eligible for one free health checkup every three years, while those over 65 are already eligible for yearly checkups, also offered to indigenous people over 55 and polio patients aged 35 and over, HPA Director-General Wu Chao-chun (吳昭軍) said.
The payment for each checkup has also been increased from NT$520 to NT$880 to enable healthcare providers to expand services, he said.
The latest Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan, conducted from 2019 to 2023, showed that 9.7 percent of 30–39-year-olds suffer from high blood pressure, 2.5 percent from high blood sugar and 18.7 percent from high blood cholesterol, the chief physician of the HPA’s Aging and Chronic Disease Control Division Hu I-chun (胡怡君).
Treatment of conditions related to the “three highs” — high blood pressure, blood sugar and blood cholesterol levels — currently cost NT$167.6 billion (US$5 billion) per year, she added.
The checkups would help patients who appear healthy to spot abnormalities early and begin preventative treatment before the onset of chronic disease, as well as enable young people to get a better understanding of their health and get into the habit of regular checkups, she said.
Currently, adult preventative health services include health behavior surveys, physical exams, blood tests, urine tests and health education consultations to address common health problems such as the “three highs,” kidney function, liver function and body mass index (BMI), the HPA said.
From this year, services are to be upgraded to offer uric acid tests, chronic disease risk assessments, kidney disease testing and educational information related to a balanced diet and getting 150 minutes of exercise per week, it said.
High uric acid is closely related to diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney disease, and affects 21.9 percent of men and 9.8 percent of women aged over 19 in Taiwan, Hu said.
Identifying high uric acid in health checkups would allow patients to identify the risks early and implement dietary adjustments, regular exercise routines and weight management to prevent the onset of chronic disease, he added.
The decision to offer free health checkups to patients as young as 30 is a huge breakthrough which would not help young people take their health more seriously and also establish a baseline for health data tracking and allow patients to live longer and happier lives, said Huang Chi-chia (黃啟嘉), a managing director of the Taiwan Medical Association.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS