The fixed-budget policy for hospitals will continue to be implemented despite the resignation of a top aide, Department of Health Director-General Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said yesterday.
Deputy director Chang Hong-jen (張鴻仁) stepped down on Monday amid severe criticism of the policy.
Yesterday, People First Party (PFP) legislators asked Chen if he would shoulder responsibility for national health insurance regulations.
"It's obvious that mistakes about policymaking were shouldered by Chang, a deputy, rather than the head of the department," PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) said to Chen at the Legislative Yuan.
Chen said that a public meeting would be held in mid-December to discuss concerns about the issue. He said he was confident that decisions made by the Bureau of National Health Insurance would not lead to problems.
"If our decisions run into any trouble, I'll step down to shoulder responsibility," he said.
Statistics show that between 1995 -- when the national health insurance program was launched under the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government -- and 2000, government expenditure on health insurance soared from NT$14 billion to NT$24.5 billion.
After 2000, the expenditure continued to increase at an annual rate of 12.5 percent. That meant the government was spending NT$1.7 billion more annually to sustain the policy.
Chen said he did not see the KMT shouldering any responsibility for huge financial losses caused by its policy.
Shen said the poorly designed fixed-budget policy for hospitals had led to bad service in hospitals.
Chen, however, said Shen lacked solid evidence to back up the accusations.
Chen said the average person pays 14.5 visits to hospitals or clinics a year and the high frequency of outpatient services did lead to some waste of medical resources. He the fixed-budget policy for hospitals would help avoid such waste.
Meanwhile, Premier Yu Shyi-kun reiterated that there will be no hike in health insurance premiums during his tenure.
Yu was speaking during a question-and-answer session at the legislature after Shen asked him whether the premiums would be raised to "salvage" the financially troubled national health insurance program.
Yu said the Cabinet had no plan to raise premiums before his term expires on Feb. 1 when the new legislature is sworn in.
In other developments, Yu also told the legislature that an all-volunteer military service system is still in the planning stage.
"The time is not yet ripe for implementing an all-volunteer military service system," he said.
"The Ministry of National Defense is still working on the plan and it has not yet reached the policy formulation stage. It will take a long time to transform the conscription-dominated system into an all-volunteer one," he said.
Yu was responding to PFP Legislator Lin Yu-fang's (林郁方) question about the feasibility of the ministry's five-year troop restructuring plan, under which the ministry will need an additional NT$380.9 billion to finance the volunteer-recruitment plan.
Yu said the ministry estimate was just a preliminary calculation.
UPGRADE: The Kang Ding-class frigate is replacing its Chaparall missiles with Tien Chien II and Hua Yang VLS, which would provide it with long-range, 360° air defense Taiwan plans to produce 1,200 to 1,376 Hai Chien II missiles (海劍二, Sea Sword II) — also known as TC-2N — to serve as the standard air defense system of the navy’s surface combatant fleet, a source said yesterday. Last week, the Hai Chien II, the naval version of the Tien Kung II missile (天劍二, Sky Sword II), completed a live-fire test in waters off the National Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology’s Jiupeng facility (九鵬) in Pingtung County’s Manjhou Township (滿州). The MIM72 Chaparral and other dated air defense missiles that currently arm Taiwanese ships have inadequate range to combat Chinese
REASONS FOR TRAVEL: An assistant professor said that proposed amendments to penalize drivers if they used drugs overseas would not deter people from traveling People who operate a motor vehicle under the influence of marijuana would have their driver’s license revoked, even if they used the substance while overseas, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday, citing proposed amendments to the Road Traffic Management and Penalty Act (道路交通管理處罰條例). The amendments would also authorize the government to revoke the licenses of people determined to have used Category 1 or Category 2 narcotics, even if they were not operating a vehicle while under the influence of drugs, as well as ban them from taking the license test for three years, the ministry said. People aged 18 or
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
RSS