Widely seen as one of the potential candidates to pair with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to run in the 2004 presidential election, Premier Yu Shyi-kun recently has been working hard to impress Chen by making his pledges become a reality.
One of the immediate examples is the senior stipend program, which is one of Chen's campaign promises. In the "333 welfare program," Chen set out the goals of making health insurance free for children under the age of three, giving people over the age of 65 a NT$3,000 monthly subsidy until a national annuity plan could be established, and lowering interest rates for first-time homeowners to 3 percent.
The Legislative Yuan passed the NT$16 billion senior stipend program in May, which will provide a NT$3,000 monthly stipend for all citizens age 65 years and older who are not covered by other programs, retroactive to Jan. 1.
Bowing to public pressure, the legislature passed another piece of legislation to lower the age requirement for Aborigines to 55 because of their shorter life expectancy.
The two pieces of legislation will affect 440,000 people, including 11,700 aborigines at an additional cost of NT$400 million.
Unsatisfied with the results, the TSU has proposed expanding the program to cover those who already receive a pension from the labor insurance program.
Yu suggested for the first time on Aug. 24 that the Executive Yuan may allow retired workers covered by labor insurance to collect the elderly stipends.
In a bid to raise the NT$4 billion that adding another 110,000 retirees to the program would cost the government, the Cabinet proposed on Aug. 26 raising the threshold for eligibility for the stipend.
The proposal, however, was rebuffed by Chen, who also serves as the DPP chairman, during the party's weekly Central Standing Committee meeting on Aug. 27.
Chen asked the government to continue to take care of the needs of the elderly -- including retired, low- and medium-income and physically challenged workers -- without endangering the welfare benefits they already enjoy.
Because the government is experiencing financial difficulties, it will be a difficult mission for Yu to accomplish.
Defending criticism that the party has meddled in the Cabinet's business, Yu said the president had consulted him about the matter before the party's decision was made.
Determined to find other financial resources to fund the extension of the scheme, Yu announced on Aug. 29 that the government will draw NT$4 billion from lotto profits.
With the permission of the fund's supervisory board, which is staffed mainly by government officials, Yu said that the added spending shouldn't crowd out the national pension program, upon the launch of which senior stipends, transitional in nature, will be abolished.
Lottery rules stipulate that 50 percent of the lotto profits go to local governments for assorted welfare outlays, 45 percent go to the proposed national pension fund and the remaining 5 percent go to the national health insurance program.
Critics have argued that it might cost the government more than NT$4 billion when the legislature reviews the TSU's proposal, because it might want to include more disadvantaged groups in the program.
They also expressed concerns over the income of the lotto profits, which is estimated to reach NT$12 billion by the end of the year.
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