Foreign spouses and Chinese spouses who are not yet covered by National Health Insurance will be able to start applying for governmental reimbursement for pregnancy checkups within a few weeks, said the Department of Health.
Pregnancy
According to the Bureau of Health Promotion at the Department of Health, foreign spouses who have lived in Taiwan for less than four months may not participate in the National Health Insurance program, so the department will subsidize the costs incurred by pregnancy checkups during that initial period -- NT$600 per medical appointment, and up to five visits per pregnancy.
In July, the Cabinet set aside a budget of NT$3 billion over the next 10 years to create a fund dedicated to the care of foreign and Chinese spouses in various areas, such as health, education, personal safety, adjustment and employment.
On March 8 this year, the Ministry of the Interior promulgated the Foreign Spouse Care Fund Management Fund (外籍配偶照顧輔導基金補助作業要點), which specifies the areas for which foreign spouses are able to seek reimbursement from the government.
Costs incurred by pregnancy checkups will be covered by this special government fund.
The application procedure for pregnancy checkup reimbursement will be available in the near future.
"Once all the details have been mapped out, which is likely to be within the next few weeks, the Department of Health will widely publicize them so that foreign spouses will receive all the necessary information," said Liu Chiong-ying (劉瓊瑛) yesterday, an administrative officer in the women and children's unit of the bureau.
Lottery-funded
In places such as Chunghwa and Hualien, the city and county governments have already begun this particular reimbursement program, which is funded by lottery revenue.
According to the ministry's Department of Household Registration, reimbursement for pregnancy checkups is under the administration of city and county governments.
According to Department of Health statistics, on average there are about 300,000 pregnancies per year where nine percent of the pregnant women are not covered by National Health Insurance.
Contraception
In addition to pregnancy checkups, foreign spouses may also seek reimbursement for medical costs incurred by contraception procedures.
Under the new act, a female foreign spouse who gets a hysterectomy is entitled to receive NT$10,000 in reimbursement, a male foreign spouse for a vasectomy NT$2,500 and reimbursement for the use of an intrauterine device will be NT$1,000.
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