Lai Zhongqiang, convener of the Jing Min Lian think tank. (File photo)
Blue and White pushed for an amendment to the "Elderly Welfare Law" last Friday. Elderly people over 65 years old will be exempted from health insurance premiums, and the central government will foot the bill. The annual budget is estimated to be nearly 40 billion. Lai Zhongqiang, the convener of the Economic Alliance think tank, revealed yesterday that Lan Bai wrote "comprehensive subsidy" in the reason for the bill proposal, but the law wrote "full subsidy." If full subsidy is implemented by then, he cited 8 types of income for 65-year-old seniors, ranging from annual subsidy amounts of 190,000 to more than 50,000 yuan. If the elderly have dividend income, interest income, rental income, etc., the total will not be only 40 billion.
Lai Zhongqiang pointed out that Blue and White launched a "blitzkrieg" raid on people across the country on October 16, amending Article 22, Paragraph 1 of the "Elderly Welfare Law", which stipulates that "if the insurance premiums of the elderly or their legal support obligors for the elderly's participation in the national health insurance, as verified by the tax collection authority, their total comprehensive income in the most recent year does not meet the reporting standard or the comprehensive income tax rate does not reach 20%, the central competent authority shall fully subsidize it."
Faced with overwhelming doubts from all walks of life, Lai Zhongqiang continued to point out that the reason for the People's Party group's proposal is that the current financial situation of various counties and cities in my country in providing subsidies for the elderly's health insurance premiums is different, resulting in most counties and cities being unable to provide relevant subsidies, which violates the principle of equality in the Constitution. The reason for the Kuomintang group's proposal is also because each county and city has different treatment and benefits due to different financial conditions, and the "amount" subsidy for the National Health Insurance for people over 65 years old. According to statistics from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, if the health care premiums of the 65-year-olds were fully subsidized, the central government would only need to increase expenditure by 40 billion yuan, accounting for only 1.3% of the total central government budget of 2.99 trillion yuan in 2013.
The proposals proposed by the Blue and White caucus in 2024 all use "health equality" and "national consistency" as the reasons for amending the law. Lai Zhongqiang questioned, if the goal is to "unify the whole country," then why not allow counties and cities with good financial conditions that have comprehensive subsidy measures to continue the original local government subsidies, and let the central government only subsidize counties and cities with poor financial conditions to achieve health equality. Instead, the result of the law amendment is to "pass the blame to the central government." No matter what the local financial situation is, the central government will be fully responsible and fully subsidized?
Lai Zhongqiang criticized that the Blue and White amendments to the "Elderly Welfare Law" require the central government to bear the elderly health care premium subsidies that the six cities and individual counties and cities have already provided. To be honest, this is not an improvement in the welfare of the elderly, but more like the fourth evil revision of the "Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Division Law".
Blue and White got into a big money trap, and it definitely cost more than 40 billion every year! .
Lai Zhongqiang revealed that what Fu Kunqi and Huang Guochang could not justify was that the reason for the proposal was written as "comprehensive subsidy" in one place and "full subsidy" in the other. The general description of the proposal stated that it was "consistent across the country", but the terms of the proposal read "full subsidy"; do these two concepts have the same meaning? They are still pretending to be a word game, draining the treasury and misleading the public. Please Fu Kunqi and Huang Guochang not to dodge!
Lai Zhongqiang took Taipei City as an example. The current subsidy amount in Taipei City is "a maximum subsidy of 826 yuan per person per month, and if the subsidy is less than 826 yuan, the subsidy will be verified." The maximum subsidy is 826 yuan. This is certainly not a "full subsidy." If Blue and White are asking for "national consensus" and follow Taipei City's approach, "comprehensive subsidies" for the monthly insurance premium of 826 yuan for the elderly across the country. There are 4.67 million people over the age of 65 nationwide. After deducting the low-income households over 70 years old that have been borne by the central government, the new cost per year is indeed about 40 billion yuan. This is also estimated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
However, the article that has been passed on the third reading requires the government to "fully subsidize" the "full premiums" for six categories of elderly people, regardless of whether they are insured or dependents. This is definitely more than 40 billion yuan, and it is definitely an astonishing figure after actuarial calculations. Lai Zhongqiang gave an example. First of all, for a well-paid elderly person who is over 65 years old and still working, the insurance premium is calculated based on the monthly insured salary. The upper limit is 313,000 yuan, the rate is 5.17%, and the employee health insurance premium burden ratio is 30%. The full subsidy is a monthly subsidy of 4,854 yuan from the central government to this person, and an annual subsidy of 58,248 yuan.
Lai Zhongqiang continued that for a company or business owner who is over 65 years old, the insurance premium is calculated based on the monthly profit income. The upper limit is 313,000 yuan, the rate is 5.17%, and the boss’s own health insurance premium burden ratio is 100%. The full subsidy is a monthly subsidy of 16,182 yuan from the central government and an annual subsidy of 194,184 yuan. Third, for a medical practitioner, lawyer, accountant, or technician over 65 years old, the insurance premium is calculated based on the monthly business income. The upper limit is 313,000 yuan, the rate is 5.17%, and the premium burden of the business operator is 100%. The full subsidy is NT$194,184 per year.
He further pointed out that if an elderly person over 65 years old takes out insurance as a dependent of his or her children, the corresponding amount of the children's monthly salary or monthly profit income and business income, such as the above three items, will also be subsidized. In addition, if the 65-year-old elderly person has dividend income, interest income, or rental income, he should have paid a supplementary premium of 2.11%, but Blue and White requires a "full subsidy" from the central government.
In addition, there is a "rich exclusion clause" for Blue and White. Lai Zhongqiang reminded that the applicable standard for the comprehensive income tax rate of 20% is that the "net amount" of the person's comprehensive income is 1.38 million yuan. As for the "total" amount of the person's comprehensive income, everyone is different. In recent years, the government has promoted the increase of various tax exemptions, standard deductions, itemized deductions, and special deductions. In addition, the wealthy are good at tax planning. It is not uncommon for those with medium and high incomes to have low tax burdens.
He listed that according to statistics from the Ministry of Finance in 2024 comprehensive income tax returns, there are 4 households in the country that are exempt from paying income tax with an annual income of more than 20 million yuan; there are about 5 to 7 households in the country that are exempt from paying income tax with an annual income of 10 million to 20 million yuan; there are about 634 households in the country that are exempted from paying income tax with an annual income of more than 2 million yuan.
Lai Zhongqiang said that such high health insurance premiums are the result of the "capacity-based tuition fee" of health insurance. It is this kind of support between the rich and the poor and the social unity of the community that supports Taiwan's health insurance that is envied by the world. However, Blue and White now want to use the central government's "full subsidy" for elderly health insurance premiums to drag down the health insurance finances.
Please stop blue and white! The deterioration of health insurance finances is by no means a blessing for everyone.
In recent years, the increase in health insurance premiums has not kept pace with the increase in benefits. Lai Zhongqiang warned that since 2023, the government has frequently allocated tens of billions of yuan to supplement health insurance finances every year. After the amendment to the law, seniors aged 65 and above with a national applicable income tax rate of 20% or less are completely exempt from paying health insurance premiums. As a result of resource crowding out, the central government will be unable to allocate more to fill the gap in health insurance finances.
Lai Zhongqiang analyzed that the result of the financial deterioration of health insurance is either to save expenditures and reduce the burden of expanded benefits or items that are not covered by health insurance, or to increase income and increase premiums. As a result of the forced increase in health insurance premiums, not only will the burden on the general public increase, but the increase in employer health insurance premiums will also delay the increase in labor wages nationwide.
