In a rare moment of agreement, lawmakers from either side of the blue-green divide yesterday voiced opposition to a purported government plan to expand the National Health Insurance (NHI) system to medical institutions in China to allow Taiwanese living there more convenient access to medical care.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it would be “ridiculous” to include Chinese hospitals in the NHI system.
It would be “practically unfeasible” for the health ministry to cover hospitals in China in the NHI, and doing so would also be illegal, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) told a press conference yesterday, adding that Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) “forgot that he is a political appointee and often makes the wrong remarks at the wrong time and the wrong place.”
Lin was referring to Yaung’s remarks reported by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) and the Central News Agency (CNA) that quoted him as saying on Thursday night that the issue of whether certain Chinese hospitals would be conditionally included in the NHI system may be on the agenda for discussion during the sixth round of cross-strait negotiations.
The CNA report quoted Yaung as saying that during a meeting with Chinese Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu (黃潔夫) earlier this year, he had discussed cross-strait health issues, including the possibility of incorporating Chinese hospitals into Taiwan’s health insurance system. Huang was quoted by the CNA as saying that it would serve the interests of Taiwanese businesspeople living in China.
Commenting on the reports, KMT Legislator Hsu Shu-po (�?�), of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, yesterday described the proposal as “very dangerous,” while KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said Yaung often brought himself trouble with reckless statements and should be careful not to talk about plans in their early stages.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said Yaung would ruin a program that has already run up a huge debt by paying for medical fees in China with Taiwan’s funds. Another DPP lawmaker, Twu Shiing-jer (�?�), said Yaung should cut the red tape for claiming compensation rather than enrolling Chinese hospitals in the program.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) issued a statement saying that “the president [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] is selling out Taiwan’s health insurance, an issue of which we are now aware because of Yaung.”
Lin also raised concern that such a proposal would unfairly benefit Taiwanese businesspeople in China, calling it another example of the Ma government creating policies to benefit business interests.
Civic group and non-governmental organization representatives also voiced criticism, panning the minister for bringing up this topic before the second generation health plan has even been passed in the legislature.
Yaung yesterday denied he was in favor of including Chinese hospitals in Taiwan’s national health insurance program.
“Nowhere [in the report] does it say that I plan to open up [the system to Chinese medical institutions],” he said.
“It is an old issue, but there is no question of enrolling Chinese hospitals into our national health insurance program for the time being, given that it has not even been put on the agenda of the sixth round of cross-strait negotiations,” he said, adding that the DOH was “not certain whether this issue will be broached” during the cross-strait talks slated for next month.
ADDTIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA
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