From today, patients visiting hospitals who are not transferred from community clinics will be charged higher fees, the Bureau of National Health Insurance said.
The new regulation has been designed by the bureau to lower the number of outpatients. In the past, patients visiting clinics and local hospitals paid only NT$50 for medical treatment, while those visiting regional hospitals and medical centers paid NT$140 and NT$210.
Many people therefore visited regional hospitals and higher-profile medical centers to receive what they considered would be better quality medical treatment.
"To prevent a waste of medical resources, the new regulation encourages residents to visit clinics in communities first," Department of Health Deputy Minister Chen Shih-jhong (陳時中) said.
Under the new rule, fees at community clinics will remain the same. At local hospitals, however, the fee will increase from NT$50 to NT$80. At regional hospitals, the fee will increase from NT$140 to NT$240. At medical centers, the fee will rise from NT$210 to NT$360.
Bureau officials said patients should not worry about the quality of medical treatment because professional physicians and nurses staff community clinics.
The new regulation will not apply to patients on dialysis machines or those suffering from cancer, hemophilia, mental illness, chronic diseases and rare diseases. People from registered low-income families, those living in remote or mountainous areas, and children under the age of three are also exempt from the changes.
Chen said that a hotline (0800-212-369) is available for those wanting more information or if they experience any problems in the process of transferring from local clinics to hospitals.
"Patients can [use this hotline to] file complaints relating to hospitals refusing to accept transferrals from clinics," he said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2