Lawmakers and civic groups yesterday voiced their opposition to a government plan to allow insurance companies to run nursing homes, saying that it may commercialize the long-term care sector.
“Care of elderly people is not a commodity and should not be commercialized,” Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator (TSU) Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) told a press conference at the legislature in Taipei yesterday.
In a meeting of the Executive Yuan’s Promotion of Private Participation in Public Infrastructure Projects Commission last week, the proposed relaxing of regulations in the Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法) to allow for-profit enterprises to run long-term care (LTC) facilities received the support of the Executive Yuan.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
In addition to leading to unequal distribution of resources, privatizing services may result in exploitation of nursing staff since it is natural for private businesses to maximize profits, she said.
Lin was reacting to a proposal by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) to allow insurance firms access to the LTC industry.
“Although the Ministry of Finance and the Department of Health both support the proposal, I am concerned that if insurance firms are allowed to operate in this sector, they would unfairly compete with government and non-governmental organizations,” TSU Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said.
Hsu said that if insurance firms are granted access to the sector, new kinds of LTC insurance products would be on offer that are not “cashed in,” but are paid in the form of home or community-services benefits.
“However, the current Insurance Act (保險法) clearly states that the insured amount must be specified in an insurance contract,” Hsu said. “Allowing non-cash benefits without proper supporting measures and government supervision would affect the rights of the insured.”
Awakening Foundation policy director Tan Yu-jung (覃玉蓉) highlighted the dangers of allowing large private companies — as well as foreign firms — into the market.
“If we don’t have a healthy government-backed long-term care system in place, who is going to take over if large corporations decide to withdraw?” Tan asked.
“The government also plans to bring in foreign capital for care of the elderly, which includes Chinese capital — are we going to look to China for such care?” she asked.
Foundation for the Welfare of the Elderly secretary-general Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) also voiced concern over the proposals.
“The FSC cited Japan as an example of allowing private companies into the care sector. However, before implementing such a move, the Japanese government built a strong government-backed public insurance system,” Wu said.
“Also, the role of businesses in the Japanese care industry is limited to at-home care,” Wu added.
Wu said the groups have vowed to block any revisions to the Senior Citizens Welfare Act, which requires LTC service providers to be non-profit organizations.
GREATER NUMBER: The sorties might have been a response to the US and the EU expressing concern on Friday over China’s ‘provocations’ in the Taiwan Strait Twenty-five Chinese military aircraft and four naval ships were detected around Taiwan from 6am Saturday to 6am yesterday, including eight airplanes that had crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and another two that entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft that entered Taiwan’s southwestern ADIZ were a Y-8 anti-submarine plane and a BZK-005 uncrewed aerial vehicle, the Ministry of National Defense said. The aircraft that flew across the median line include two Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets, four J-16 multipurpose fighters and two J-10 jets, the ministry’s official Web site showed. Taiwan’s armed forces monitored the
Mask easing: Teachers are allowed to take their masks off while lecturing indoors, but students should keep theirs on, as COVID-19 measures ease this week The Ministry of Education (MOE) yesterday released new on-campus COVID-19 prevention guidelines, stating that masks can be taken off while exercising, singing, dancing, performing, taking photographs, dining, drinking, video and voice recording, hosting events, presenting speeches and lecturing outdoors. Large outdoor events organized by schools should comply with the mask regulations issued by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), it added. The new guidelines came into effect yesterday, and people in Taiwan are no longer required to wear masks outdoors for the first time since May 19 last year. The CECC announced the easing of the mask mandate on Monday, adding that it
LUNAR NEW YEAR PEAK: Taiwanese who are in China should get vaccinated and consider returning early, as infection rates are expected to increase, the CECC said China faces five major problems once COVID-19 begins spreading there, with a peak in infections likely during the Lunar New Year holidays, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), said yesterday. Wang wrote on Facebook that according to the center’s data, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in China is worth noting, as the new Omicron subvariants BF.7 and BA.5.2 spreading in China are highly infectious and are more transmissible than the previously dominating Omicron subvariants. “The virus cannot be eliminated even under China’s strict control measures,” he wrote. “Its policy
‘SEXUAL ASSAULT’: Taipei prosecutors said that cooperation agreements between Taiwan and the Czech Republic grant Czech officials protection against prosecution The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday reaffirmed that it would not charge a Czech official with sexual assault because he is protected by diplomatic immunity. The office released a statement saying it has verified that the man works for the Czech Economic and Cultural Office Taipei’s foreign affairs corps and is thereby protected from criminal prosecution. A foreign graduate student in Taiwan had filed a complaint alleging that the section head of the Czech Economic and Trade Section had sexually assaulted her on April 21 last year. The woman said the Czech official had invited her to his home and then forced her
RSS