The National Health Insurance (NHI) premium rate should remain unchanged next year at 5.17 percent, the Ministry of Health and Welfare committee responsible for reviewing the premiums said.
The size of the NHI reserve fund, which functions like an emergency fund for a household, is projected to be sufficient to cover about two months of insurance payouts by the end of next year under the current premium rate of 5.17 percent, the National Health Insurance Committee (NHIC) said.
According to Article 78 of the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), the aggregate amount of the reserve fund “shall be equal to the aggregate amount of benefit payments in the most recent one to three months based on actuarial principles.”
Photo: Taipei Times
In view of the projected sufficiency of the NHI reserve fund, the NHIC has submitted its decision to maintain the current NHI premium rate to the ministry, which would forward it to the Executive Yuan for approval, the committee said.
The NHIC added that the discrepancies between estimated and actual NHI financial figures from 2021 to this year exceeded NT$10 billion (US$307.62 million) and highlighted a trend of growing discrepancies, without specifying whether the actual figures were higher or lower than the estimates.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
MORE NEEDED: Recall drives against legislators in Miaoli’s two districts and Hsinchu’s second district were still a few thousand signatures short of the second-stage threshold Campaigners aiming to recall Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators yesterday said they expect success in 30 out of 35 districts where drives have passed the second-stage threshold, which would mark a record number of recall votes held at once. Hsinchu County recall campaigners yesterday announced that they reached the second-stage threshold in the recall effort against Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘). A total of 26,414 signatures have been gathered over the past two months, surpassing the 10 percent threshold of 23,287 in Hsinchu County’s second electoral district, chief campaigner Hsieh Ting-ting (謝婷婷) said. “Our target is to gather an additional 1,500 signatures to reach