Pan-blue lawmakers accused the Bureau of National Health Insur-ance yesterday of raising health insurance payments to benefit its own employees.
"The more the bureau earns, the greater the bonuses its employees get. Its employees' bonuses are derived from people's health insurance payments," said PFP Legislator Cheng San-yuan (鄭三元) in a budget review meeting at the legislature's Sanitation, Environment and Social Welfare Committee.
"These employees are greedier than rake collectors in gambling houses," Cheng said.
"Have you ever thought about the poor when increasing health insurance payments?" Cheng asked Department of Health acting head Twu Shiing-jer (
The bureau raised insurance premiums from 4.25 percent of a person's monthly salary to 4.55 percent on Sept. 1.
As a result, Cheng said, the bureau's annual income will increase by NT$30 billion and the total amount of its employees' annual bonuses will rise by NT$15 million.
KMT Legislator Hou Tsai-feng (侯彩鳳) backed Cheng by saying the bureau's inefficient employees do not deserve bonuses.
"In contrast to the bureau's poor performance, the bonuses its employees receive are unreasonably high," Hou said.
Meanwhile, PFP Legislator Lin Hui-kuan (
"The bureau is neither honest nor trustworthy," Lin said.
DPP Legislator Lai Ching-te
(
In response to lawmakers' accusations, BNHI Deputy General Manager Chen I-feng (
"Our employees have never taken a penny from NHI premiums," Chen said.
"Therefore, the increase in the NHI premiums has absolutely nothing to do with our bonuses," he said.
Chen explained that the employees do not have the same benefits system as other civil servants because the bureau is not a government institution, even though it imple-ment's government policy.
"For example, our employees have neither retirement pensions nor education bursaries for their children. These are benefits every civil servant enjoys," he said.
The bureau rewards its staff with better bonuses to compensate for those disadvantages, Chen added.
Liu Chien-hsiang (劉見祥), another BNHI deputy general manager, said the dispute about bonuses arises from the bureau's obscure identity.
"If the bureau was a governmental institution, its employees would be able to enjoy the civil servants' welfare system. Then it would not need to compensate its employees with big bonuses," Liu said.
Liu said he hoped the bureau's identity would be clarified as soon as possible.
Chen noted that staff bonuses have been the target of lawmakers' criticism for a long time.
"We would rather give up our bonuses than keep getting criticized over them," he said.
During yesterday's committee meeting, lawmakers also accused some doctors and hospitals of wasting medical resources.
In response, Twu held a press conference yesterday afternoon to announce that he was setting up a team to investigate allegations of corruption in the health system.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
A fourth person has died in a food poisoning outbreak linked to the Xinyi (信義) branch of Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in Taipei, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said on Monday. It was the second fatality in three days, after another was announced on Saturday. The 40-year-old woman experienced multiple organ failure in the early hours on Monday, and the family decided not to undergo emergency resuscitation, Wang said. She initially showed signs of improvement after seeking medical treatment for nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, but her condition worsened due to an infection, he said. Two others who
MEDICAL: The bills would also upgrade the status of the Ethical Guidelines Governing the Research of Human Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cell Research to law The Executive Yuan yesterday approved two bills to govern regenerative medicine that aim to boost development of the field. Taiwan would reach an important milestone in regenerative medicine development with passage of the regenerative medicine act and the regenerative medicine preparations ordinance, which would allow studies to proceed and treatments to be developed, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) told reporters at a news conference after a Cabinet meeting. Regenerative treatments have been used for several conditions, including cancer — by regenerating blood cells — and restoring joint function in soft tissue, Wang said. The draft legislation requires regenerative treatments
Taiwanese should be mindful when visiting China, as Beijing in July is likely to tighten the implementation of policies on national security following the introduction of two regulations, a researcher said on Saturday. China on Friday unveiled the regulations governing the law enforcement and judicial activities of national security agencies. They would help crack down on “illegal” and “criminal” activities that Beijing considers to be endangering national security, according to reports by China’s state media. The definition of what constitutes a national security threat in China is vague, Taiwan Thinktank researcher Wu Se-chih (吳瑟致) said. The two procedural regulations are to provide Chinese