The People First Party (PFP) yesterday said that it plans to propose legislation that would implement “total nursing care,” which it said would only raise National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums by about NT$40 (US$1.31) per month.
The “total nursing care” proposal was presented by Eva Teng (滕西華), a long-time advocate for the rights of patients and the physically challenged, as well as the PFP’s No. 1 nominee on its legislator-at-large list.
NHI data for 2017 show that 1.95 million people were hospitalized, while there were 3.29 million hospitalizations, Teng said, adding that on average each of person stayed in hospital for 9.55 days.
Photo: Lin Liang-sheng, Taipei Times
The total value of the nursing care market is about NT$60 billion and most caretakers are women, Teng said.
Because the nation has become an aging society — with one elderly person being supported by 3.4 adults — the government should implement a “total nursing care” policy to improve the situation in hospitals, she said.
The policy would ease the burden on families, Teng added.
“If the government enforced a total nursing care policy, hospitals could train caretakers to complement the care of doctors and nurses, based on their different medical specialties,” she said.
If hospitals followed the policy, medical professionals would not be overworked and more people would be willing to become nurses, Teng said, adding that the quality of care in hospitals would also rise.
Currently, family members need to stay at the hospital if a relative becomes ill, because the family might be unsure of finding a qualified caretaker, she said.
Meanwhile, patients are anxious if left alone, Teng said, adding that the policy would reduce the burden on family members and hospitals would have more space for treating patients.
Total nursing care should be covered by the NHI, she said.
Caretakers receive an average of NT$2,100 to NT$2,400 per day, but if the expense was covered by the NHI, a person would only need to pay NT$500 to NT$700 per day, because the NHI would have NT$25 billion to NT$30 billion from premiums to cover the difference, Teng said.
If a caretaker could be hired for NT$500 per day, with the remainder covered by the NHI, people would only have their monthly premium increase about NT$40, she said.
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