The National Health Insurance premiums for 1.42 million civil servants, military personnel and public school teachers will be raised on Oct. 1 in a move that is expected to increase the program’s revenue by NT$1.2 billion (US$36.9 million) per year, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) said.
The hike results from a Department of Health decision to increase the ratio used to calculate the insured portion of people’s salaries for the three categories of beneficiaries, from 90.67 percent to 93.52 percent of their full salaries, BNHI finance manager Lee Shao-chen (李少珍) said.
With the average monthly insured salary of the three categories NT$54,000, the average monthly premium will be increased by NT$23 to NT$779, Lee said.
This will mark the fourth time that the insured salary ratio of civil servants, military personnel and public school teachers has been raised since the insurance program was launched in 1995.
Also from Oct. 1, employers with fewer than five staff, self-employed professional and technical personnel and other types of self-employed individuals will see their minimum monthly insured income increase from NT$33,300 to NT$34,800.
Lee said the change would affect about 130,000 people, most of whom are owners of studios and small businesses, land agents, notaries, accountants and lawyers.
The premiums for these people will increase by NT$68 per month, generating an additional NT$100 million in revenue for the insurance program, Lee went on.
Meanwhile, the fixed premium for those serving compulsory military service or alternative service and those from low-income households will be raised from NT$1,317 to NT$1,376.
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 US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative.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
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition