Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday rejected Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang’s (楊志良) proposal to increase premiums for the nation’s cash-strapped National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme.
Yaung met Wu after the legislature’s question-and-answer session to discuss the proposal drawn up by the DOH.
Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), spokesman of the Executive Yuan, told reporters after the meeting that Wu hoped Yaung would revise the proposal in line with the principle that the new system negatively affect the fewest people and result in well-off people paying more to materialize the principle of social justice.
Chiang did not elaborate on the differences between the DOH’s version and the principles Wu related to lawmakers on the floor earlier yesterday.
Wu did not give a time frame for the DOH to complete its revision of the proposal, Chiang said.
Speaking earlier yesterday, Wu said the NHI premium would be adjusted “at an opportune time.” He did not elaborate.
Wu said any increase would only apply to a maximum of 40 percent of the people who make more money, with each of them paying an extra NT$70 to NT$80 per month.
Before the meeting Yaung had said the department’s plan to raise premiums would spare around 50 percent of the population, adding the proposed hike was part of the DOH’s plan to prevent the health insurance system from collapsing under the weight of its growing financial deficit.
In response to a question at a press briefing, Yaung said he was unaware of any proposal that would spare 70 percent of wage earners from the increase, but the DOH hopes that at least 50 percent of the population would not be affected by the hike.
The DOH plan is inclined to “have the wealthy pay more for health insurance while maintaining the current premium rates for the less well off,” he said.
The Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice President Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), Wu, Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) and KMT Vice Chairman Chan Chun-po (詹春柏) had agreed in a meeting on Monday that the premium hike should not touch 70 percent of wage earners.
The DOH’s plans to raise NHI premiums have been stalled by Wu, who has said that any increase must be made based on the principle of fairness and only after the problem of waste and abuse of medical resources has been addressed.
He further stressed that low and middle-income individuals should not be made to carry any extra financial burden as a result of premium hikes.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG AND CNA
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