A Democratic Progressive Party legislator (DPP) is planning to propose an amendment that would limit access to the National Health Insurance Program by Taiwanese living abroad who do not pay income taxes.
DPP’s Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) cited as an example singer Huang An (黃安), a Taiwanese based in China, who on Thursday returned to Taiwan for heart surgery that is estimated to cost the National Health Insurance more than NT$800,000 (US$24,511).
In a statement released on Sunday, Lin said that the singer’s return exposes a loophole in the national health insurance program.
The 52-year-old Huang, who works in China, sparked controversy with his criticism of Taiwanese performers whom he has labeled as supporters of Taiwanese independence, derailing their careers in China.
One Taiwanese singer targeted by Huang was Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), a teenaged member of the South Korean girl band Twice, who in January lost an endorsement deal from a Chinese company and was forced to apologize for waving a Republic of China flag on a South Korean TV show.
Lin said the amendment would restrict access to health insurance by Taiwanese who stay abroad for more than six months at a time and do not pay income taxes in Taiwan, even if they continue to pay their health insurance premiums.
Lin said that he hoped it would motivate wealthy overseas Taiwanese to pay taxes in Taiwan to maintain their insurance policies.
“It is intolerable that the National Health Insurance Program pays millions of New Taiwan dollars in claims for medical bills incurred overseas,” he said.
Last year, the national health insurance paid NT$34 million in medical bills incurred in other nations, with 70 percent of that amount going to China, Lin said.
He said that the universal health insurance program was designed to look after people who identify with Taiwan and can be better utilized to help disadvantaged families or improve the quality of medical services.
National health insurance is compulsory and covers people that have household registrations in Taiwan, or holders of alien resident certificates who have “established a registered domicile for at least six months” or have “a regular employer.”
The National Health Insurance Administration on Friday said it introduced certain measures in 2013 to prevent abuse by people who suspend payments when they go overseas and resume their premiums when they return to Taiwan.
Last year, health insurance coverage of about 57,000 was suspended, because they were spending most of their time abroad, the administration said.
The total premium paid by those people was NT$31.09 million, while the health insurance program paid NT$28.1 million for treating 40,554 of them, the administration said.
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