The Executive Yuan yesterday unveiled a NT$9.1 billion (US$325.1 million) package of subsidies for parental leave, prenatal screenings and in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures in a bid to boost the nation’s birthrate.
The parts of the proposal that do not require legislative consent are to be implemented from July 1, Executive Yuan spokesman and Minister Without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference in Taipei after a regular Cabinet meeting.
Amendments to the Employment Insurance Act (就業保險法) and other regulations would increase the allowance for parental leave from 60 percent of insured salary to 80 percent, he said.
Photo: Fang Chih-hsien, Taipei Times
The increased allowance, which is to cost NT$4.2 billion, would draw funding from sources other than the Labor Insurance Fund to avoid crowding out other benefits, he said.
Amendments to the Act of Gender Equality in Employment (性別工作平等法) would allow spouses to go on concurrent parental leaves with allowances for one to six months, and each household can avail of this leave twice, he said.
Other, shorter-term leaves for childcare would also be permitted under proposed changes, he said.
In addition, workers would be able to apply for unpaid parental leave regardless of the employment status of their spouse and without providing a reason for doing so, he said.
Workers would have to give employers advance notice before taking parental leave to facilitate staffing arrangements at the workplace, he said.
Eligibility for the government’s IVF subsidies would be broadened to include all married couples who cannot conceive if at least one of the spouses is Taiwanese and the woman is under 45 years of age, Ministry of Health and Welfare Deputy Minister Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
Income restrictions were removed after the program reported that only 52 low and medium-income couples enrolled for IVF subsidies, which produced only seven births over the past six years, he said.
Higher-income households are to receive a subsidy of NT$100,000 for their first IVF procedure and NT$60,000 for each one after that, he said.
As before, low and medium-low income households are to receive a subsidy of up to NT$150,000 per procedure.
Households in which the wife is younger than 40 years old can claim subsidies for six IVF procedures per conception, while households in which the wife is aged 40 to 45 can claim three.
Officials estimate that the expanded subsidies would benefit between 23,000 and 28,000 households, and that the program would cost up to NT$3.2 billion.
Free prenatal screenings would be increased from 10 to 14 for each pregnancy, while coverage would be broadened to include screenings for gestational diabetes and anemia, and two ultrasound tests.
Subsidies for the screenings would also be raised to improve the health of pregnant women, reduce infant mortality rate and encourage people to go into obstetrics.
The revised prenatal screening subsidies should benefit about 160,000 households and cost about NT$1.25 billion.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard