Dozens of academics and nongovernmental organization representatives led by the Taiwan Health Care Reform Foundation yesterday initiated a petition calling on the legislature to pass a second-generation health plan during a special session scheduled later this month.
Following a premium rate hike on April 1 to alleviate the National Health Insurance Fund's gaping deficit, the Department of Health has proposed a revised health plan to promote a “fairer” insurance system, which includes changing the basis for calculating premiums to income per household rather than per capita.
Foundation executive director Liu Mei-chun (劉梅君) said the foundation initiated the petition because it was worried the health bill overhaul might not be discussed during the extra legislative session.
“Even though the second-generation health plan may not be perfect, it gets a passing grade,” she said.
“The sooner the [health plan] is passed, the sooner it becomes effective, and the sooner the public can benefit from it,” she said.
The legislature has to approve amendments to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) first before health authorities can start ironing out details to execute the plan, vote on members of the National Health Insurance Fund supervisory committee and coordinate efforts with medical institutions across the country, Liu said.
“Even after the law is passed, it will still take one to two years before the public can start to enjoy its benefits,” she said.
“The first-generation health plan gets 100 points for its policies on healthcare expenditure, but only 40 or 50 points for its policies on revenue sources,” said Lai Mei-shu (賴美淑), a professor of public health at the National Taiwan University and director of the planning committee of the proposed generation health plan.
“The second-generation health plan does not get 100 points, but it's close enough,” she said.
Labor Rights Association director Wang Chuan-ping (王娟萍), who also joined the petition, said legislators should try to reach a consensus on the more controversial issues of the bill, rather than delay the plan any further because of concern it might affect election results.
Although many medical associations and academics joined the petition, the National Health Insurance Civic Surveillance Alliance was notably absent.
“The alliance is of the view that as several important and controversial aspects of the plan remain unclear, discussion of the plan should not be hurried through at the extra legislative session,” alliance spokesperson Eva Teng (滕西華) said.
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