President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national campaign office yesterday launched a video on implementing childcare and long-term care services for older people to expand the nation’s social welfare programs.
The video, titled The Next Four Years: Upgrade Long-term Healthcare 2.0 (下一個4年,長照2.0升級), is part of Tsai’s campaign platform to implement the policy, which would benefit the majority of society: the middle class and people in lower income brackets, the office said.
“President Tsai is committed to improving long-term care and health services for senior citizens. The plan calls for a comprehensive package for all families, providing incentives for young couples to have children,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) said. “Our government will provide the support and work with young couples and families to look after their children and elderly relatives.”
Photo: CNA
The new policy has “five pluses,” which are highlighted in the video, including increasing the overall budget for long-term care services to NT$60 billion (US$1.99 billion), compared with next year’s budget of NT$40 billion, which was an annual increase of just NT$5 billion, Wu said.
The other objectives are enhancing long-term care for families, increasing the range of these services, establishing more daycare centers and providing more affordable homecare services nationwide, she said.
Wu, an expert on long-term care services, was secretary-general of the Federation for the Welfare of the Elderly for 20 years and has served as chairwoman of the Taiwan Social Welfare League since 2013.
Tsai campaign office spokeswoman Yan Juo-fang (顏若芳) said that the “DPP government will continue to work to improve the lives of all citizens, which is why we are expanding the range of long-term services for families and increasing overall funding.”
“Implementing this policy would be a sign of the nation making progress. For the next four years, we aim to not only have better economic growth, but also provide more social welfare services for a safer, happier society,” she said.
Separately yesterday, the office rejected accusations by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that the DPP is the main force behind a rally on Saturday in support of a campaign to recall Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the KMT’s candidate in the Jan. 11 presidential election.
“The rally is being organized by Kaohsiung residents and civic groups, such as WeCare Kaohsiung,” DPP spokeswoman Tai Wei-shan (戴瑋姍) said.
“The DPP did not organize the march and rejects allegations by Han’s campaign office that it is part of the DPP’s campaign activities to influence the election,” she said.
Taiwan is a democratic nation, whose people have the right to recall elected officials and to choose their mayors, lawmakers and president, she added.
“We support the rights of Kaohsiung residents to express their opinions through democratic processes,” Tai said.
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