In a rare moment of agreement, lawmakers from either side of the blue-green divide yesterday voiced opposition to a purported government plan to expand the National Health Insurance (NHI) system to medical institutions in China to allow Taiwanese living there more convenient access to medical care.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it would be “ridiculous” to include Chinese hospitals in the NHI system.
It would be “practically unfeasible” for the health ministry to cover hospitals in China in the NHI, and doing so would also be illegal, KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) told a press conference yesterday, adding that Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) “forgot that he is a political appointee and often makes the wrong remarks at the wrong time and the wrong place.”
Lin was referring to Yaung’s remarks reported by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) and the Central News Agency (CNA) that quoted him as saying on Thursday night that the issue of whether certain Chinese hospitals would be conditionally included in the NHI system may be on the agenda for discussion during the sixth round of cross-strait negotiations.
The CNA report quoted Yaung as saying that during a meeting with Chinese Deputy Health Minister Huang Jiefu (黃潔夫) earlier this year, he had discussed cross-strait health issues, including the possibility of incorporating Chinese hospitals into Taiwan’s health insurance system. Huang was quoted by the CNA as saying that it would serve the interests of Taiwanese businesspeople living in China.
Commenting on the reports, KMT Legislator Hsu Shu-po (�?�), of the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, yesterday described the proposal as “very dangerous,” while KMT Legislator Wu Ching-chih (吳清池) said Yaung often brought himself trouble with reckless statements and should be careful not to talk about plans in their early stages.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wong Chin-chu (翁金珠) said Yaung would ruin a program that has already run up a huge debt by paying for medical fees in China with Taiwan’s funds. Another DPP lawmaker, Twu Shiing-jer (�?�), said Yaung should cut the red tape for claiming compensation rather than enrolling Chinese hospitals in the program.
DPP spokesperson Lin Yu-chang (林右昌) issued a statement saying that “the president [Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)] is selling out Taiwan’s health insurance, an issue of which we are now aware because of Yaung.”
Lin also raised concern that such a proposal would unfairly benefit Taiwanese businesspeople in China, calling it another example of the Ma government creating policies to benefit business interests.
Civic group and non-governmental organization representatives also voiced criticism, panning the minister for bringing up this topic before the second generation health plan has even been passed in the legislature.
Yaung yesterday denied he was in favor of including Chinese hospitals in Taiwan’s national health insurance program.
“Nowhere [in the report] does it say that I plan to open up [the system to Chinese medical institutions],” he said.
“It is an old issue, but there is no question of enrolling Chinese hospitals into our national health insurance program for the time being, given that it has not even been put on the agenda of the sixth round of cross-strait negotiations,” he said, adding that the DOH was “not certain whether this issue will be broached” during the cross-strait talks slated for next month.
ADDTIONAL REPORTING BY VINCENT Y. CHAO AND CNA
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
RSS