Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) yesterday urged the central government to amend the laws concerning Taipei City’s national health insurance debt after the Control Yuan said it found no legal grounds for the central government to help pay for the subsidy.
The Control Yuan on Wednesday approved a report given by its member Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) that said there were no laws supporting the Executive Yuan’s move to help pay the National Health Insurance (NHI) debts owed by the Taipei City Government and the Kaohsiung City Government.
Su yesterday stated his support for the Control Yuan’s report, and blamed the problem on President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), a former Taipei mayor, who refused to pay the debt during his term.
“The government should act according to the law, and if Ma had followed the laws, the issue wouldn’t be a problem today,” he said yesterday after attending a campaign event in the city, urging the Ma administration to solve the problem and not to “make things more difficult for Taipei City.”
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) brushed off Su’s comments, and said the former DPP government should be held responsible for failing to amend the regulations.
Hau said the Taipei City Government was not obligated to pay the health insurance subsidies for 2.2 million people who work in the city but whose household residency is registered elsewhere.
“The report suggested that the central government should negotiate with local governments to solve the issue, which we already did. The DPP took no actions to solve the problem in the past eight years, and should be held responsible,” he said.
The Taipei City Government’s debt, which was about NT$40 billion (US$1.2 billion), was accumulated from 1999, when Ma refused to pay the health insurance subsidies for non-Taipei residents. The central government has agred to pay for non-Taipei residents.
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