LOOKING ELSEWHERE: TPP lawmakers said subsidies removed from the act remain under the Public Assistance Act, the National Health Insurance Act and other programs
By Lin Che-yuanand William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday defended amendments to the Senior Citizens Welfare Act (老人福利法), saying existing medical subsidies for disadvantaged seniors would remain in place.
Under the amendments to Article 22 passed on Friday, the government must cover the full National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums of people aged 65 or older whose total consolidated income in the most past year falls below the tax filing threshold or is subject to an income tax rate of less than 20 percent.
Taiwan Economic Democracy Union think tank convener Lai Chung-chiang (賴中強) said the changes inadvertently removed the legal basis for two key medical subsidies for disadvantaged people in that age group.
A person holds National Health Insurance cards in an undated photograph.
Photo: Lo Pi, Taipei Times
In response, the TPP caucus said Lai was misleading the public and criticized Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) for fearmongering by saying that people younger than 64 would have to pay up to NT$3,000 more per year because of the bill.
TPP caucus secretary-general Hung Yu-hsiang (洪毓祥) said that medical copayments and other out-of-pocket expenses for disadvantaged people aged 65 or older were already covered under the Public Assistance Act (社會救助法), the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) and local governments’ medical subsidy regulations.
Local governments already allocate funding for these programs, and the amendments would not affect those obligations, he said.
TPP caucus director Vicky Chen (陳智菡) said the Public Assistance Act explicitly provides support for low-income and lower-middle-income households, as well as people affected by emergencies or disasters.
Local government social affairs departments administer the subsidies and allocate budgets accordingly, she said.
With separate legal provisions supporting medical assistance and local governments already budgeting for and implementing the programs, there was no basis for claiming the amendments had eliminated the subsidies, Chen said.
Expanding central government subsidies to cover NHI premiums for all people aged 65 or older could free up at least NT$20 billion (US$616.43 million) in local government funding for additional assistance to disadvantaged people, she said.
Lai was misleading the public and creating unnecessary panic, which was unacceptable, Chen added.
Responding to Shih’s warning about the potential additional costs for people younger than 64, Hung said the revised law required the central government to fully fund the subsidies through its annual social welfare budget, keeping the expense separate from the NHI fund.
The NHI fund still had about NT$200 billion and remained well above the statutory threshold that would trigger a premium increase, he said, urging Shih to stop spreading fear.
Most seniors have their NHI premiums paid by their working-age children, who are already supporting their own children and parents, he said.
Based on a monthly salary of NT$40,000, the amendments could save younger people about NT$14,000 annually, Hung added.
The Democratic Progressive Party government was spreading misinformation by portraying the policy as an additional burden on younger people, he said.
The problem with government spending was not a lack of money, but excessive and wasteful budget allocations, he said, questioning whether the government could not afford to spend a projected NT$38.8 billion annually on the policy.
"DPP mayoral candidates could advocate full NHI premium subsidies for people aged 65 and older, but opposition parties were apparently not allowed to do the same," Hung said.
Separately, KMT caucus secretary-general Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said the amendments were primarily intended to transfer responsibility for subsidizing NHI premiums for eligible elderly people to the central government, expanding social protections rather than eliminating existing medical assistance.
A change to a single legal provision should not be interpreted as immediately ending all medical subsidies for disadvantaged people, Hsu said.
The National Health Insurance Act independently provides medical protections for disadvantaged people, which would remain in effect after the amendments, she said.
Article 36 of that act also provides mechanisms to help people experiencing financial hardships who cannot afford premiums or out-of-pocket expenses, including installment payments and other forms of assistance, she said.
Those protections do not depend on Article 22 of the Senior Citizens Welfare Act and would not be affected by the changes, Hsu added.
The Public Assistance Act also independently establishes the legal basis for medical subsidies for low-income and lower-middle-income households, she said.
Eligible disadvantaged people aged 65 or older could continue to apply for assistance through the social assistance system and would not lose their medical subsidies simply because the Senior Citizens Welfare Act had been amended, she added.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han and CNA