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Taipei gets a month to pay debts

"It is local governments' legal obligation to pay back the money that they owe the central government."

Ray Dawn, director of Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Finance

The Taipei City Government has to pay health insurance subsidy debts of about NT$10.7 billion that it owes the Cabinet's Bureau of National Health Insurance within a month, Ministry of Justice officials said yesterday.

The Department of Administrative Enforcement under the Ministry of Justice on Wednesday rejected the Taipei City Government's 10-year installment plan to pay off the debts of NT$10.7 billion that it owed since 2000.

It ruled that the Taipei City Government has to pay back the money within a month, otherwise the department will collateralize its non-public property.

Meanwhile, the Kaohsiung City Government, that owes the Bureau of National Health Insurance about NT$9.9 billion between 1998 and 2002, promised to pay back NT$1.2 billion without delay and proposed an installment payments over five years. The Bureau of National Health Insurance preliminarily accepted the city government's reimbursement plan but asked the city to pay the outstanding amount at once.

"It is local governments' legal obligation to pay back the money that they owe the central government," said Ray Dawn (董瑞斌), the director of Kaohsiung City's Bureau of Finance.

"Although Kaohsiung City is in a difficult financial situation, we showed our sincerity about paying off our health insurance subsidy debts by coming up with a concrete plan."

Dawn said that Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) agreed that the city government would pay off its debts by selling its non-public properties.

Minister of Justice Chen Ding-nan (陳定南) yesterday said that the ministry will enforce the mandate fairly and according to law.

Yang Hsiu-mei(楊秀美), the director of the Department of Administrative Enforcement, said yesterday that under Article 27 of the National Health Insurance Law (全民健保法), local governments are obliged to pay one-third of the costs of medical treatment incurred by the residents in their jurisdiction in the previous year. However, Taipei City has not paid its health insurance subsidy debts since 2000.

Moreover, Yang said, the Taipei City Government filed for a constitutional interpretation in 2002, arguing that Article 27 of the National Health Insurance Law breached Article 109 of the ROC Constitution under which city governments enjoy "the power of legislation and administration" over their finances and revenues.

The Council of Grand Justices later ruled that the Bureau of National Health Insurance did not violate the cities' constitutional right to financial independence and confirmed that the city governments had to pay the outstanding debts.

Yang said the Taipei City Government, however, had not yet shown any sincerity to pay back its debts and the department will enforce the mandate without delay.

The Taipei City Government's Director of the Bureau of Labor Yan Shang-luan (嚴祥鸞) said yesterday that the city government is sorry about the Bureau of National Health Insurance's reaction. The city government will wait until a verdict from Taipei's Supreme Administrative Court on March 4 before taking further steps.
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