A proposed date for the passing of National Health Insurance (NHI) amendments should be settled as soon as possible, Department of Health (DOH) Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said yesterday.
Yaung urged lawmakers to continue reviewing the reform bill for a second-generation NHI program during the special legislative session scheduled for this week, and to work out a plausible time schedule for the bill’s passage.
He said the bill had already undergone several reviews by the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee, and that the DOH had held numerous public hearings on the issue. With the exception of 26 clauses in the bill that require further discussion, most have now been addressed, he said.
The legislature needs to give an indication of when the bill will be passed, because the implementation of the second-generation NHI system is complicated and the relevant authorities must plan ahead, Yaung said.
In a move aimed at resolving a dispute over the bill between the rival parties, Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) planned to convene a meeting today between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
Although the KMT hopes to clear the bill by the end of the special session, the DPP could still throw a wrench into the works by calling into question the content of each individual article, KMT Policy Committee director-general Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said.
Lin said the KMT would try to come to terms with the DPP in the meeting and would also seek support from KMT legislators who disagree with passing the bill in the ongoing special session.
The DPP has said the legislature should not rush the bill through without full discussion, and should hold off on the review until the next regular legislative session.
It would not be possible to pass the bill during the current special session, DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) said.
An anonymous legislative source said five representatives from the KMT, the legislature and the Presidential Office had previously agreed that the purpose of the two-week special legislative session was to deal with four priority issues — the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), the admission of Chinese students to Taiwanese universities and colleges, amendments to the election and recall law, and the NHI reforms.
As the three other items have all been dealt with, the KMT is determined to push the NHI reform bill through by the end of this month.
Tropical Storm Nari is not a threat to Taiwan, based on its positioning and trajectory, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Nari has strengthened from a tropical depression that was positioned south of Japan, it said. The eye of the storm is about 2,100km east of Taipei, with a north-northeast trajectory moving toward the eastern seaboard of Japan, CWA data showed. Based on its current path, the storm would not affect Taiwan, the agency said.
The Taipei Department of Health’s latest inspection of fresh fruit and vegetables sold in local markets revealed a 25 percent failure rate, with most contraventions involving excessive pesticide residues, while two durians were also found to contain heavy metal cadmium at levels exceeding safety limits. Health Food and Drug Division Director Lin Kuan-chen (林冠蓁) yesterday said the agency routinely conducts inspections of fresh produce sold at traditional markets, supermarkets, hypermarkets, retail outlets and restaurants, testing for pesticide residues and other harmful substances. In its most recent inspection, conducted in May, the department randomly collected 52 samples from various locations, with testing showing
Taipei and other northern cities are to host air-raid drills from 1:30pm to 2pm tomorrow as part of urban resilience drills held alongside the Han Kuang exercises, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercises. Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung, Taoyuan, Yilan County, Hsinchu City and Hsinchu County are to hold the annual Wanan air defense exercise tomorrow, following similar drills held in central and southern Taiwan yesterday and today respectively. The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Maokong Gondola are to run as usual, although stations and passenger parking lots would have an “entry only, no exit” policy once air raid sirens sound, Taipei
Taiwan is bracing for a political shake-up as a majority of directly elected lawmakers from the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) face the prospect of early removal from office in an unprecedented wave of recall votes slated for July 26 and Aug. 23. The outcome of the public votes targeting 26 KMT lawmakers in the next two months — and potentially five more at later dates — could upend the power structure in the legislature, where the KMT and the smaller Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) currently hold a combined majority. After denying direct involvement in the recall campaigns for months, the
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