Limited progress was made yesterday on a proposal to reform the National Health Insurance (NHI) premium scheme, despite efforts by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to push the bill through as soon as possible.
Lawmakers reached a consensus that the Department of Health should propose a hypothetical calculation of NHI premiums based on the scheme advanced by the department.
Legislators would then compare the department’s scheme with that proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) before voting on the department’s bill, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) told reporters after cross-party negotiations in the morning.
An initial version of a reformed NHI plan proposed by the department failed to pass a second and third reading in the legislature on Dec. 7, forcing Department of Health Minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) to propose a new version, which he submitted to the legislature on Dec. 16.
Under the new version, an individual’s premium would be calculated based on income from interest, share dividends, professional practice and any cash awards that are four times more than a person’s monthly salary.
The department’s previous proposal would have had premiums calculated based on total household income, rather than an individual’s salary as is done at present. The DPP’s proposal is similar to the original version proposed by the department.
The DPP has been critical of the new version, calling it “unfair” because it does not cap supplementary earnings or include pension funds and rent income as part of its income calculations.
DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday questioned the feasibility of the new version of the bill advanced by the department.
“The Executive Yuan said it would like to lower the premiums for 70 percent of the people under the proposed scheme, but it also wanted to lower the premium rate. However, it is impossible. Even God can’t make that happen,” Ker said.
Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said that although the KMT caucus would like to push through the department’s proposal by Friday, legislators should vote on the bill on Tuesday next week, which would give the department a week to submit the hypothetical calculations to the legislature.
Meanwhile, the legislature passed an amendment to the Offshore Islands Development Act (離島建設條例) obliging the government to grant living expense stipends to students who study on outlying islands, but have difficulty traveling back home to other outlying islands after school.
Non-Partisan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Ping-kun (林炳坤), who proposed the amendment, said students living on smaller offshore islands sometimes had no choice but to stay on major islands after school because of limited transportation services.
At present, the government only provides stipends for transportation, Lin said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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