The Ministry of Health and Welfare would evaluate the pros and cons of a proposal to implement an insurance system to support the Long-term Care Services Development Fund, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Chen made the remark at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee after the Ministry of Finance asked the health ministry to assess the feasibility of a long-term care insurance program.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, last week said in a weekly livestream that if he is elected president, he would launch a long-term care insurance program jointly paid for by policyholders, employers and the government.
Han’s policy advisers have said that the Long-term Care Services Program 2.0, implemented by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, has an unstable budget source, as it is mainly financed by tobacco and inheritance taxes, and that it would not meet the growing needs for long-term care.
The fund last year had income of NT$36.346 billion (US$1.171 billion), which is expected to fall to about NT$34 billion this year, while expenditures last year totaled NT$1.631 billion, so there is currently sufficient income to finance the policy, Chen said.
However, the finance ministry said that while the need for long-term care services is expected to continue growing, the Financial Discipline Act (財政紀律法) passed by the legislature in April could reduce the flexibility in obtaining money for the fund.
As under the act the health ministry may no longer request an increase in the fixed amount or percentage of tax incomes alloted to support the fund, the finance ministry had asked it to evaluate alternative sources of financing, including launching an insurance system.
The health ministry has discussed and compared various financial plans, and would appropriately distribute and use the fund’s income, Chen said, adding that it would evaluate the current system, as well as the pros and cons of an insurance system.
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