Two Department of Health (DOH) committees yesterday proposed a postponement of the second-generation National Health Insurance (NHI) program to allow for better preparation.
The proposal was made during the first joint meeting of the NHI Supervisory Committee and the NHI Medical Expenditure Negotiation Committee.
According to Eva Teng (滕西華) of the NHI Supervisory Committee, most committee members think it would be too rushed to implement the new system on July 1, because more than 50 related by-laws have yet to be promulgated.
In addition, many employers have no idea how to calculate the premium deductions from workers’ salaries, Teng said.
Chu Tong-kuang (曲同光), deputy convener of a DOH task force overseeing the NHI program, said the committees’ opinions would be conveyed to the Executive Yuan.
If the government decides to go ahead with the second-generation NHI in July as scheduled, the DOH will make sure that the essential work is completed by the end of May and all preparations finished by July, Chu said.
He also promised that the premium rates for the second-generation NHI would be lower than the current 5.17 percent.
According to an amendment last year to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) that is scheduled to take effect in July, individuals will pay 4.91 percent of their regular monthly salary for NHI coverage.
Meanwhile, an additional 2 percent could be charged based on six categories of income, outside of salaries — bonuses more than four times the individual’s monthly salary, income from professional practice, stock dividends, interest, rent and moonlighting.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS