Legislators yesterday reached an agreement to delay the scheduled second and third reading of a proposed National Health Insurance (NHI) premium reform plan to hold public hearings to deliberate the proposal first.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said after a cross-party negotiation session that legislators agreed to deal with the bill once the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Department of Health (DOH) have held public hearings tomorrow and on Friday respectively to gauge public opinion of the proposed scheme.
The legislature would hold the second and third readings of the bill on Tuesday at the earliest if everything goes smoothly in the hearings, Wang said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus had originally mobilized its members in case the legislature was to vote on the proposed scheme later yesterday.
An initial version of a reformed NHI plan proposed by the Cabinet failed to pass a second and third reading in the legislature on Dec. 7, forcing Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) to propose a new version, which he submitted to the legislature on Thursday last week.
Under the new version, an individual’s premium would be calculated based on interest income, share dividends, professional practice income and any cash awards that are four times more than a person’s salary.
The department’s previous proposal revolved around calculating premiums based on total -household income, rather an individual’s salary as is done at present.
DPP legislators, however, called the new version “unfair,” saying it failed to cap supplementary earnings and did not include pension funds and rent income as part of its income calculations.
Meanwhile, in other developments, the legislature yesterday passed an amendment to the Gender Equality in Employment Act (性別工作平等法), allowing women to take tocolysis leave and enjoy half their salary during the leave without it affecting their attendance record.
The amendment also grants all employees family care leave of up to seven days a year. Employers can choose not to pay employees for the time off, but employers are banned from denying workers the right to take the leave.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
Taiwan-Japan Travel Passes are available for use on public transit networks in the two countries, Taoyuan Metro Corp said yesterday, adding that discounts of up to 7 percent are available. Taoyuan Metro, the Taipei MRT and Japan’s Keisei Electric Railway teamed up to develop the pass. Taoyuan Metro operates the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line, while Keisei Electric Railway offers express services between Tokyo’s Narita Airport, and the Keisei Ueno and Nippori stations in the Japanese capital, as well as between Narita and Haneda airports. The basic package comprises one one-way ticket on the Taoyuan MRT Line and one Skyliner ticket on
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost