As the new semester starts, the number of college and university students applying for bank loans continues to rise. At the same time, National Health Insurance (NHI) premium hikes have triggered protests from labor groups. Meanwhile, the government has decided to reward women for having children, utilizing eight measures, as well as to expand the monthly stipends to seniors.
Each of these issues has affected society to different degrees. In terms of the nature of these issues, however, the myth of welfare and a welfare system that has lost its way are entangled with each other.
First, in response to Taiwan's relatively low birth rate which is turning it into an aging society, cash incentives that go straight into people's pockets are simply a trick employed to increase the birth rate. Nevertheless, people's interpretation of such "birth subsidies" (生育津貼) is not just some tens of thousands of NT dollars in subsidies. Rather, they tend to think over the issue looking at the nurturing and education of their children. More directly speaking, the constantly declining standard of living has taken away their motives for having children. Thus, if the current standard of living cannot be improved, having fewer children will then be a rational choice for them.
In terms of the limited elderly stipends, the granting of the money has little substantial use in improving the elderly's quality of life since each individual's differences -- such as physical conditions, family backgrounds, financial support and other factors -- are not taken into account. Thus, the elderly's needs and the welfare services provided to them should be multiple, and cash subsidies should not be the core of the policy.
Moreover, whether we're talking about the baby bonuses or elderly subsidies, the logic behind these care measures that stress civil rights and interests is solely to separate children and seniors from their family units -- and to use limited cash subsidies as a tool to link children, seniors and their family units.
We must learn how to squarely face the gap between the individual child or senior and their family units. Thus, the allocation of the birth and elderly subsidies should not be defined as cash paid to each individual child and senior. Instead, these welfare measures should focus on the overall operation of family units.
In fact, the recent protests from labor groups against the NHI premium hikes were, to a certain degree, ignited by people's dissatisfaction. Neither the birth subsidies nor the elderly subsidies can effectively improve the urgent economic and livelihood difficulties of their families at present.
Consequently, compared to the vested interests -- such as local hospitals and medical institutions -- or the worsening gap between the rich and the poor, the government's exploitation of the middle and laboring classes has quickly angered them due to their collective feeling of being exploited. How to link different generations together by providing a thorough family welfare policy is the key to an actual solution.
In a word, from the NHI premium hikes and the expansion of the elderly stipends to the financial incentives for rewarding new parents, these cash subsidies and insurance fees have shown the impact of poorly thought-out welfare programs on each individual and his or her family.
That being so, the myth of welfare may lead to more deviant welfare programs as the welfare system continues to expand. Such chaotic welfare measures can be described by the old Chinese saying, "Drink poison to quench thirst" (
Wang Shung-ming is a professor of social welfare at Chinese Culture University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
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