The Executive Yuan yesterday said that it would send a draft amendment to the Long-term Care Services Act (長期照顧服務法) to the legislature for review so that community-level care facilities would not have to apply to be constituted as legal entities or renew their operating licenses to encourage the participation of the private sector when the act takes effect in June next year.
The draft amendment proposes a dual registration system, which would require new facilities to be registered as legal entities, while exempting existing small facilities, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Lu Pau-ching (呂寶靜) told a news conference at the Executive Yuan in Taipei.
Lu said that care facilities that are registered as legal entities are insulated from factors that could jeopardize their operations, such as the need for their operating rights to be transferred or potential closure due to a lack of a successor to the original proprietor.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
However, as privately run, community-level care facilities have voiced concerns over the registration regulations at public hearings, the ministry would not forcibly push them through, she said.
Community-level facilities criticized the regulations when the program was unveiled last week, saying that the cost and time needed for them to register as a legal entity could force them out of business.
Lu said that unless existing facilities expand or move — which would require a new safety inspection, essentially making them new facilities — they would not have to be registered as a legal entity.
She said that the nation has about 1,100 small care facilities nationwide, which play a pivotal role in the care program due to their proximity to homes, enabling people to visit family members at their convenience.
Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that Premier Lin Chuan (林全) has asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to explain the proposed amendment to legislators in the hope that it could be passed as soon as possible.
In related developments, Lu said that to finance the care program, the government plans to levy an additional NT$20 tax on each pack of cigarettes, which it estimates would contribute NT$15.8 billion (US$503 million) toward the NT$33 billion required for phase one of the program.
Another potential source of funding for the program is a proposed increase in the gift and inheritance taxes, which are levied on endowments of at least NT$2.2 million and bequests of at least NT$12 million respectively, Lu said.
The government is to raise the tax rate from 10 percent to 20 percent, which is estimated to add NT$6 billion to government revenues, she said, adding that the tax increases would likely only affect affluent people.
In addition to the proposed tax increases, the government has earmarked NT$17.8 billion for the program, she said.
The proposed tax increases are to be reviewed by the legislature.
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