The Consumers’ Foundation yesterday said there are still many issues surrounding the second-generation health plan that need to be discussed and urged lawmakers not to vote on the bill during the legislature’s provisional session.
The legislature will hold a meeting today to discuss which bills would be put to a vote during the provisional session starting tomorrow.
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), the Statute of Rural Renewal (農村再生條例) and the amendments to the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) are expected to be among items on the agenda.
Foundation chairman Hsieh Tien-jen (謝天仁) yesterday voiced opposition to the legislature’s plan to vote on the second-generation health plan during the provisional session.
“There are too many controversial articles in [proposed amendments to] the National Health Insurance Act,” Hsieh said.
“Problems such as controlling the quality of medical care, limiting excess waste of medical resources and addressing gaps in drug and medical expense reimbursement systems have not yet been resolved,” he said.
Lawmakers should not attempt to squeeze so many contentious topics into one session and rush the passage of such an important health plan that will have an impact on the nation’s population for decades to come, the foundation said.
Hwang Yu-sheng (黃鈺生), foundation secretary-general, said lawmakers who rush through the passage of the bill are putting the public at risk of an unfair and unjust health plan.
“The second-generation health plan calculates health premiums based on household income [rather than individual income], but many forms of household income are hidden and therefore cannot be considered by authorities,” he said.
He added that the plan is unfair to people living by themselves or couples with a double income, but have no children.
Overseas Taiwanese who have worked overseas but return to Taiwan to receive medical care would also only pay minimal premium fees, which is unreasonable, he said.
The Department of Health in April raised the premium insurance rate from 4.55 percent to 5.17 percent as a stopgap measure to keep the cash-strapped Bureau of National Health Insurance solvent.
Under the second-generation plan, 78 percent of those covered by the insurance program would be unaffected by the rate hikes because of offsetting subsidies.
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
NAMING SPAT: The foreign ministry called on Denmark to propose an acceptable solution to the erroneous nationality used for Taiwanese on residence permits Taiwan has revoked some privileges for Danish diplomatic staff over a Danish permit that lists “Taiwan” as “China,” Eric Huang (黃鈞耀), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of European Affairs, told a news conference in Taipei yesterday. Reporters asked Huang whether the Danish government had responded to the ministry’s request that it correct the nationality on Danish residence permits of Taiwanese, which has been listed as “China” since 2024. Taiwan’s representative office in Denmark continues to communicate with the Danish government, and the ministry has revoked some privileges previously granted to Danish representatives in Taiwan and would continue to review
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
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