Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yeh Yi-ching (葉宜津) asked the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday to halt its proposed revamp of the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) because it would take more money from the middle class but fail to get money from the rich.
On Monday the department released details of a proposed amendment that would calculate an individual’s health insurance premiums based on total income, rather than monthly salary alone.
The Ministry of Finance defines total personal income as monthly salary plus year-end bonuses, stocks, dividends, interest, rent and other sources of income.
Under the proposed “1.5 Generation NHI Act,” individuals would have to make a second payment — a “supplementary premium” — if they earned more than NT$180,000 (NT$5,300) in non-monthly income. The premium rate, however, would be 1.8 percent, much lower than the premium based on monthly salary.
Yeh told a press conference that the DPP was opposed to the amendment: “The bureau wants to take more money from middle-class people, but has failed to get the rich to pay more in premiums.”
A premium equal to 1.8 percent of of a wealthy person’s supplementary income was not enough, she said.
Bureau of National Health Insurance records show that the Taipei City Government owes the bureau NT$29.4 billion in NHI premiums, she said, and the bureau has to recover the money from “rich Taipei” to cover its huge deficits, rather than trying to take more money from the middle class.
If the amendment were passed, people who honestly report their incomes would be forced to pay higher premiums, while people who lied about their real income could avoid paying more, she said.
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