The Ministry of Justice yesterday said that although all prisoners are to join the National Health Insurance (NHI) program next year, it has not found hospitals willing to serve the inmates of seven prisons and detention centers in northern Taiwan.
Agency of Corrections director Wu Sen-chang (吳憲璋) told the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee that while the second-generation NHI program — which will also cover all prisoners —is scheduled to be implemented next year, the ministry had not found hospitals willing to provide beds for Taipei Prison, the Taipei Detention Center, the Taipei Women’s Detention Center, Taoyuan Prison, Taoyuan Women’s Prison, and the Taipei and Taoyuan juvenile detention houses.
Wu said that if the ministry failed to find hospitals willing to take on prisoners, it would ask the Department of Health to assign hospitals to the penitentiary institutions.
Wu added that some hospitals might be hesitant because of the controversies surrounding jailed former president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) medical treatment in Taipei Prison and outside hospitals.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hui-mei (王惠美) said that as unemployed people, the disadvantaged and victims of crimes pay their own NHI fees, it was unreasonable to ask taxpayers to pay the health insurance fees of prisoners.
Instead, the prisoners’ insurance bill should be paid with a fund inmates can contribute to from what they earn working in prison factories, he said.
Minister of Justice Tseng Yung-fu (曾勇夫) agreed that it was a good idea. The ministry said it did not support the idea of taxpayers footing prisoners’ insurance bills, but that the law had been passed by the legislature.
Tseng said the ministry would review the policy after it takes effect in one year and that a prisoners’ fund was its preferred policy for financing inmates’ health care.
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
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
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