Taiwan Quick Take: KMT to reject `health tax'

Members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus said yesterday the party will firmly oppose the implementation of a second-generation national health insurance program, which they likened to levying a "health tax" on the general public. The KMT lawmakers lambasted the proposal, saying it would increase health insurance premiums for about 70 percent of the nation's salaried population while leaving high-income groups unaffected. The Executive Yuan referred a draft package of amendments to the National Health Insurance Law (全民健康保險法) to the Legislative Yuan on May 3. Under the new health insurance program, premiums would be based on a household's total income instead of an individual's salary, as is the case under the existing system. This means that it would affect some 70 percent of the salary-earning public who are medium and low-income earners.