National Health Insurance program premiums are set to rise next month, with the 12.3 million people covered by the program required to pay an additional NT$34 per month on average in accordance with a decision taken by the National Health Insurance Bureau at the end of last year.
The rise in premiums will provide the program with an extra NT$12 billion (US$363.9 million) per year.
The extra funds will provide a degree of relief to the cash-strapped program but won't completely bridge its financial gap as the program is expected to run up a debt of NT$20 billion by the end of this year.
Without an increase, a health official said, the financial shortage will reach NT$27 billion by the end of this year.
Those insured in the sixth category, which includes the unemployed and people without regular employers, will see a premium hike of NT$52 -- the largest rise among monthly premiums.
The official said this was because premiums in this category had seen little change compared with other categories.
However, the official said that the public would not feel the pinch until September when they receive notices from the National Health Insurance Bureau to pay their August premium.
The bureau decided last year to expand the base on which the premium was calculated in an effort to keep the insurance program alive.
Following the change, annual premiums for farmers and fishermen will rise from NT$19,200 to NT$20,100 and to NT$33,000 for self-employed workers.
As for government employees and military personnel, the portion of their salary on which the premium will be calculated will be expanded to 89.12 percent.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard