Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chong-liang (石崇良) has spoken against offering coverage under the National Health Insurance (NHI) program to the elderly parents of Chinese spouses who move to Taiwan. Some people have said that, given the annual application cap of 60 recipients, the net economic impact is minimal. What Shih is speaking to is not the number of applicants or recipients to the scheme, but the inherently unfair nature of the policy, in two ways:
First, Article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that “all citizens of the Republic of China, regardless of sex, religion, race, class, or party affiliation, shall be equal before the law.”
This principle of equality is designed to “guarantee
substantive equality in legal status for all people, which requires matters that are the same in nature to be treated the same and not be subject to arbitrary different treatment without justification.”
The problem is that under the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), once a Chinese spouse obtains Republic of China nationality, their parents, if aged 70 or older, may move to Taiwan, obtain household registration, and become eligible for NHI after six months. However, the parents of spouses of every other nationality are not extended the same chance. This is a clear violation of the constitutional guaranteed principle of equality.
Second is the issue of contributions. Suppose a 70-year-old parent of a Chinese spouse moves to Taiwan and joins the NHI scheme. Their standard monthly premium of NT$826 over 20 years from the ages of 70 to 90 would amount to about NT$200,000. Let us compare this to a Taiwanese citizen who was born in Taiwan and has worked and paid taxes until the age of 90. Assuming standard premiums of NT$826 per month while they are children under 22 under their parents’ plan and after retirement at 60, and a personal monthly NHI contribution of NT$457 during their working years under the monthly minimum wage of NT$29,500 — as of Jan. 1 next year, this would amount to slightly more than NT$720,000 over 90 years. Is it fair for a Taiwanese citizen to contribute more than three times the amount as the spouse’s parent who moves here after retirement age?
The parents of Chinese spouses who have access to NHI through this scheme are, by definition, elderly, at a stage in life where individuals are most dependent on NHI, and their net healthcare expenditures would likely far outweigh their contributions. Beyond fiscal sustainability, there are concerns about the capacity of the healthcare system and national security.
Yeh Yu-cheng is a civil servant.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) challenges and ignores the international rules-based order by violating Taiwanese airspace using a high-flying drone: This incident is a multi-layered challenge, including a lawfare challenge against the First Island Chain, the US, and the world. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) defines lawfare as “controlling the enemy through the law or using the law to constrain the enemy.” Chen Yu-cheng (陳育正), an associate professor at the Graduate Institute of China Military Affairs Studies, at Taiwan’s Fu Hsing Kang College (National Defense University), argues the PLA uses lawfare to create a precedent and a new de facto legal
In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump continued to shake the foundations of the liberal international order to realize his “America first” policy. However, amid an atmosphere of uncertainty and unpredictability, the Trump administration brought some clarity to its policy toward Taiwan. As expected, bilateral trade emerged as a major priority for the new Trump administration. To secure a favorable trade deal with Taiwan, it adopted a two-pronged strategy: First, Trump accused Taiwan of “stealing” chip business from the US, indicating that if Taipei did not address Washington’s concerns in this strategic sector, it could revisit its Taiwan
Chile has elected a new government that has the opportunity to take a fresh look at some key aspects of foreign economic policy, mainly a greater focus on Asia, including Taiwan. Still, in the great scheme of things, Chile is a small nation in Latin America, compared with giants such as Brazil and Mexico, or other major markets such as Colombia and Argentina. So why should Taiwan pay much attention to the new administration? Because the victory of Chilean president-elect Jose Antonio Kast, a right-of-center politician, can be seen as confirming that the continent is undergoing one of its periodic political shifts,
Taiwan’s long-term care system has fallen into a structural paradox. Staffing shortages have led to a situation in which almost 20 percent of the about 110,000 beds in the care system are vacant, but new patient admissions remain closed. Although the government’s “Long-term Care 3.0” program has increased subsidies and sought to integrate medical and elderly care systems, strict staff-to-patient ratios, a narrow labor pipeline and rising inflation-driven costs have left many small to medium-sized care centers struggling. With nearly 20,000 beds forced to remain empty as a consequence, the issue is not isolated management failures, but a far more
RSS