President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday instructed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to draw up an amendment to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) that would extend National Health Insurance (NHI) coverage to Chinese students, but ordered a halt to the provision of government-subsidized premiums to non-Taiwanese students.
Speaking at a news conference after a weekly High-Level Policy Coordination Meeting in Taipei yesterday evening, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said the inclusion of Chinese students in the NHI system was deliberated yesterday because it has been the subject of heated debate for several years.
“On one hand, society believes that access to healthcare is a human right ... while on the other hand, the government’s limited resources have promoted calls for Taiwanese, taxpayers and long-term residents to be given priority,” Huang said.
Huang said that after exchanging opinions with participants, Tsai outlined three principles that the DPP caucus should use to propose an amendment to the act.
“First, in light of humanitarian considerations and the universal values of human rights, Chinese students should join foreign and ‘overseas compatriot students’ in being included in the NHI system,” Huang said.
According to the Regulations for Studying and Counseling Assistance for Overseas Compatriot Students in Taiwan (僑生回國就學及輔導辦法), overseas compatriot students refers to students with Chinese ethnicity who are born and have resided continuously overseas (countries or regions other than China, Hong Kong, and Macau) until now, or have resided overseas for more than six consecutive years until they return to Taiwan for studies, and have possessed permanent or long-term residence permits from the host country they previously resided.
Due to the government’s limited resources and the principle of equality, all Chinese, foreign and overseas Taiwanese students have to shoulder the NHI premium themselves in full, Huang said, adding that students who arrived in Taiwan prior to the amendment would not be affected.
Nevertheless, government agencies, based on policy considerations, are allowed to allocate a special fund to provide NHI premium subsidies to students from certain countries or disadvantaged backgrounds, Huang said.
Under the terms of the act, foreign and overseas compatriot students who have been in Taiwan for more than six months are required to enroll in the NHI system.
Chinese students are currently not covered by the NHI program because they cannot obtain residence permits, as stipulated in the Act Governing Relations Between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (台灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
At present, foreign students in Taiwan shoulder 60 percent, or NT$749, of their monthly NHI premium, while the government contributes the remaining 40 percent, or NT$500.
Overseas compatriot students only have to pay NT$374, with the government and the Overseas Community Affairs Council subsidizing NT$500 and NT$375 respectively.
Huang said Tsai also requested that the DPP caucus and the executive branch of the government explain the issue and communicate with the public, in the hope of ensuring that every student who comes to Taiwan can focus on their studies without having to worry about having access to medical care.
“Today’s [yesterday’s] meeting only sought to lay out the principles for the upcoming amendment. The DPP caucus will now undertake the work at its own pace,” Huang said.
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