The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) proposal for insurance-based funding for long-term care was unfair and is no different from a tax increase.
“The KMT presidential candidate proposed that the funding for the long-term care program should be collected through the National Health Insurance [NIH], but this would increase the burden for everyone, and is no different from a tax increase,” DPP spokesperson Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said. “[The KMT’s plan] would require newborn babies to pay the premium, and is actually spending money for the next generation.”
Cheng made the remarks in response to Chu’s proposed policy earlier in the day.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
At a press conference earlier yesterday, Chu said that since tax rates in Taiwan are low, tax-based funding for long-term care could be unstable, and thus proposed insurance-based funding for the program.
Chu said that while the DPP tries to push for a public long-term care system, he thinks privatization of the system could be a better option.
However, Cheng said that the DPP’s plan is to draw funding from specific taxes, such as inheritance tax, and that it would draw more from those who are wealthier, and less from people who are less advantaged.
Cheng said the DPP had proposed long-term care and social housing policies four years ago, but the KMT has not done anything to address these issues during the past four years it has been in power, adding that the KMT has been in power for eight years since 2008 and should have already implemented Chu’s proposal a long time ago if it were feasible.
“Chu is presenting his policy platform in such a rush that there are loopholes he could not explain,” Cheng said.
Separately yesterday, DPP vice presidential candidate Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) also defended the DPP’s proposal for long-term care funding.
“The tax-based funding would facilitate the redistribution of wealth to lessen the burden on the public,” he said. “I believe a tax-based funding would meet the people’s needs more than insurance-based funding.”
Chen said the DPP’s plan is to collect NT$30 billion (US$913.8 million) from tax income, and NT$3 billion from the regular government budget to build an inexpensive, community-based long-term care system, with integrated efforts across ministries.
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