Key provisions of the "Old Welfare Law" have been deleted! Fear of impact on denture and intraocular lens subsidies for vulnerable elderly people

The Blue and White legislators recently forcibly passed the 22nd amendment to the "Old Welfare Law", and were even found to have flaws in the amendment. It deleted the legal source that requires local governments to provide "partial payment of expenses" and "expenses other than health insurance benefits" subsidies to disadvantaged elders. Today Blue and White said that there are sustainable subsidies such as the "Social Assistance Law" Vulnerable elders, but Zhou Daojun, director of the Department of Social and Family Affairs of the Ministry of Health and Welfare (referred to as the Social Welfare Department), emphasized that the "Social Assistance Law" cannot cover all disadvantaged elders who were originally subsidized by the "Old Welfare Law". If local governments are unwilling to continue to provide subsidies in the future, it may affect the dentures, artificial lenses and other subsidies for disadvantaged elders.

In response to related accusations, the People's Party claimed that Articles 18 and 20 of the "Social Assistance Law" provide subsidies for "partial burden of health insurance" and "medical expenses not covered by health insurance" to the disadvantaged nationwide. Articles 4 and 5 of the "Measures for Subsidy for Elderly Persons Who Cannot Afford to Participate in National Health Insurance" also require "each local government to formulate subsidy measures" to provide disadvantaged elders with subsidies for "partial burden of health insurance" and "self-paid medical expenses not covered by health insurance."

"How can the authorization method be effective when there is no regulation in the mother law!" Zhou Daojun pointed out that the "Measures for Subsidy for the Elderly Who Cannot Afford to Participate in the National Health Insurance" is an authorization method stipulated in Article 22 of the current "Elderly Welfare Law". In the amendments passed on the third reading on the 16th, after the text requiring local subsidies was deleted, the authorization method will lose the basis of the mother law. Once the third reading article takes effect in the future, the provisions cited by Lan Bai will also be ineffective.

In addition, Zhou Daojun pointed out that the subsidy targets of the "Measures for Subsidy for the Unaffordable Expenses of the Elderly Participating in the National Health Insurance" include the elderly from low-income households and the elderly from low- and middle-income households, including those who receive living allowances for the elderly from low- and middle-income households, that is, those who are "less than 2.5 times the minimum living expenses." The medical subsidy targets of the "Social Assistance Law" are low-income households and low-income households, that is, those who are "less than 1.5 times the minimum living expenses." The two coverages are different and cannot be fully covered by the "Social Assistance Law."

Zhou Daojun also mentioned that because Article 22 of the "Old Welfare Law" requires local governments to provide "expenses other than health insurance benefits" for disadvantaged elders has been deleted, in the future, denture subsidies and other medical items involving health insurance balance burdens may be affected, such as intraocular lenses for cataract surgery, cardiac stents for myocardial infarction patients, etc. However, the actual impact items and scope will depend on various subsidy regulations.

Zhou Daojun also emphasized that the core issue in the revision of the "Old Welfare Law" is still whether it should be expanded to cover the health insurance premiums of all elders over 65 years old. During the review process, other words were deleted. No matter how the Blue and White committee members cited other legal provisions, the point is that the relevant words were deleted from the "Old Welfare Law". The Ministry of Health and Welfare is still taking stock of the subsequent peripheral matters and impacts, and whether existing laws and regulations can be supplemented.