The Constitutional Court yesterday ruled that a mandate that requires a three-month buffer period between reinstatement and suspension of National Health Insurance (NHI) benefits for Taiwanese returning from abroad as unconstitutional.
Under current rules, people staying abroad for six months or longer can suspend payments, but coverage is immediately resumed upon re-entering Taiwan. Coverage cannot be suspended again for three months.
The court heard a case brought by a woman surnamed Lee (李), who has mostly lived abroad since 2002 and has suspended NHI coverage.
Photo: CNA
Her coverage automatically resumed when she came back to Taiwan for a short visit, and she was asked to pay an NHI premium of NT$2,247.
Lee in 2020 applied for a constitutional interpretation on articles 37 and 39 of the Enforcement Rules of the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法施行細則) after the administrative appeal and administrative litigation she filed were dismissed.
The articles stipulate that people can apply for suspension of coverage if they plan to stay overseas for more than six months, but are only permitted to reapply for another suspension three months after their coverage resumes when they return to Taiwan.
The Constitutional Court in its verdict in Constitutional Case No. 19, 2022, ruled that the regulation is not authorized by law and thus contravenes the legal reservation principle.
However, the court did not rule the system of resuming and suspending NHI coverage as unconstitutional, which means that Lee might still have to pay the premium if she applies for a retrial.
Legislators can decide whether to keep the system, the court said, adding that if the system is considered necessary, it should be clearly authorized by law.
The court has allowed a two-year period for agencies to review the issue.
After two years, the parts of the articles deemed unconstitutional would cease to be effective.
During these two years, 560,000 Taiwanese studying and working abroad would still have to comply with the current regulation.
The decision comes as the NHI Committee is considering scrapping the ability for overseas Taiwanese to opt out of the NHI system.
The committee in February said that most members supported a proposal to stop overseas Taiwanese from suspending NHI premium payments and to immediately resume coverage upon returning to Taiwan.
Alternative proposals to the scheme include requiring continuous payments from Taiwanese abroad who wish to resume coverage upon return.
Ending the opt-out scheme would require several legal amendments and therefore cannot be decided unilaterally by the committee.
Additional reporting by CNA
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