TSU lawmaker wants to expand stipend program

A TSU lawmaker wants to expand the NT$3,000 stipend plan for the elderly to cover those who already receive a pension from the labor insurance program.

Currently, citizens over the age 65 who receive any type of pension do not qualify for the NT$3,000

stipend.

But if an amendment proposed by TSU Legislator Chien-Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) passes, an additional 600,000 elderly will qualify -- at a cost of NT$21 billion annually.

"The fact that this group is provided with a retirement pension is no excuse for the government to take less care of them," Lin said.

The TSU lawmaker has won support from 73 colleagues from across party lines.

TSU Legislator Huang Chung-yuan (黃宗源) said the government could pay for the expanded program by halving the interest rate paid on the savings of civil servants and military servicemen.

Huang proposed slashing the rate from 18 percent annually to 9 percent.

The proposed legislation has worried the Cabinet, which had finally convinced the Legislative Yuan on May 10 to adopt two bills that would put the NT$3,000 stipend program into effect.

Minister of the Interior Yu Cheng-hsien (余正憲) said during a visit to the legislature that the cash-strapped government could not afford an expanded program.

An estimated 440,000 elderly qualify for the stipend under current rules.

Yu worried that if the program were expanded to cover those who already receive a pension from the labor insurance program, other groups would demand to be included as well.

Statistics show there are roughly 2 million people in Taiwan who are 65 or older, or 8.5 percent of the population.

Yu said the elderly pension was only a provisional measure that would be scrapped once a national pension program is in place.

The Cabinet, he said, would take up a draft proposal for the national pension plan next week and turn it over to lawmakers for review before the end of the legislative session on June 21.

Yu also argued that the government has been forced to come up with another NT$400 million to cover a change to the original program. The legislature had lowered the age requirement for Aborigines to 55 years of age, citing their shorter life expectancy.

But Yu's comments didn't discourage lawmakers.

Chien said the DPP administration should have postponed implementing the policy in the first place.

"The government should have foreseen potential problems," she said. "As it is now, I have no choice but to heed the complaints brought up by my constituents."

With help from the KMT, Chien said her bill stood a good chance of heading directly to its second reading later this month.

KMT Legislative Whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said his caucus agreed that the elderly pension should be revamped and would consider drawing up a bill of its own.

PFP legislative leader Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said her party would give its go-ahead if there's a consensus on the proposed changes.