The Blue and White Legislators recently forcibly passed the amendment to the "Elderly Welfare Law", which aroused doubts from the outside world. Yesterday, it was found that two important legal sources of subsidies for disadvantaged elders were deleted. The hasty amendment of the law was a mistake. Originally, the disadvantaged should be subsidized for "partial expenses" and "expenses other than health insurance benefits." The future depends on the attitude of the local government. In this regard, Xu Yuzhen, secretary-general of the Kuomintang League, said today that health insurance subsidies for the elderly will not crowd out medical security for the disadvantaged, and the government cannot arbitrarily cancel existing subsidies.
Article 22 of the "Elderly Welfare Act" before the amendment stipulates that local governments should provide disadvantaged elders with three types of subsidies: health insurance premiums, part-pay expenses, and expenses other than health insurance benefits. However, Lai Zhongqiang, the convener of the Taiwan Economic Democracy Think Tank, angrily criticized, Lan In the process of amending the "Old Welfare Law", Legislator Bai simply deleted the source of the law that required local governments to provide vulnerable elderly people with partial payment of expenses and subsidies other than health insurance benefits. He criticized this amendment as the fourth bad revision of the "Fiscal Revenue and Expenditure Division Law".
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Xu Yuzhen said that it must be clarified from the complete legal system. Taiwan's medical protection for disadvantaged groups is not based solely on a single provision of the Elderly Welfare Act. The National Health Insurance Act, the Social Assistance Act, and local government-related welfare systems all have their own legal basis.
Xu Yuzhen pointed out that the main purpose of this revision of the law is to increase the responsibility for subsidy of health insurance premiums for the elderly who meet income conditions to the central government and expand social security for the elderly, rather than cancel the original medical care for vulnerable elderly people. A change in the text of a single law cannot be directly interpreted to mean that all disadvantaged medical subsidies will be immediately stopped.
Xu Yuzhen explained that first, the National Health Insurance Law already has independent medical protection for disadvantaged groups, which will not become invalid due to the amendment of the Elderly Welfare Law. According to Article 49 of the National Health Insurance Law, low-income households have statutory protection for insurance premiums and part of the burden of medical treatment; people who meet certain conditions such as major injuries and illnesses are also exempted from part of the burden according to law. In addition, Article 36 of the National Health Insurance Law also provides an installment payment and assistance mechanism for those who have financial difficulties and are unable to pay the insurance premium in one go or bear the cost themselves. These protections are not dependent on Article 22 of the Elderly Welfare Law, and naturally they will not disappear due to this revision of the law.
Xu Yuzhen said that secondly, the "Social Assistance Law" also has an independent legal basis for medical subsidies for low-income and low- and middle-income households. Article 2 of the "Social Assistance Law" clearly stipulates that social assistance includes living assistance, medical subsidies, emergency assistance and disaster assistance. Among them, the medical subsidy system established in Chapter 3, Articles 18, 19, and 20 is to assist people with financial difficulties to obtain necessary medical care. In other words, even if Article 22 of the Elderly Welfare Law is amended, the medical subsidy obligations stipulated in the Social Assistance Law still exist. Vulnerable elders who meet the qualifications of this law can still apply for medical assistance through the social assistance system. They will not lose all medical expense subsidies because of the amendment to the Elderly Welfare Law.
Xu Yuzhen emphasized that thirdly, administrative benefits that have been approved cannot be canceled arbitrarily due to legal amendments. According to the provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Law" on the effectiveness of administrative sanctions, trust protection and the abolition of administrative sanctions that grant benefits, subsidies approved by the government in accordance with the law cannot be canceled by administrative agencies if they want to. For medical subsidies that have been approved, administrative agencies must review the effectiveness of the originally approved sanctions, the subsidy period and the impact of legal changes. Law amendments cannot be used as a reason to arbitrarily recover or cancel existing benefits.
Xu Yuzhen pointed out that as for the medical subsidy system for the elderly that has been established by local governments, their autonomy regulations, autonomy rules, administrative plans and budgetary basis must also be reviewed separately. It cannot be concluded that all original local welfare measures will be invalid after the central law is revised. Regulations need to be connected, which does not mean that the elderly from low- and middle-income households have lost all medical protection. The Ministry of Health and Welfare can take a comprehensive inventory of existing subsidies and clarify which projects can continue to be handled in accordance with the National Health Insurance Law, the Social Assistance Law and local autonomy regulations, and which projects need to be strengthened with legal authorization.
Xu Yuzhen reiterated that what this revision of the law wants to solve is the problem in the past that the financial capabilities of various counties and cities were different, resulting in regional disparities in elderly health insurance premium subsidies. Having the central government bear the health care premiums for eligible elders is precisely the hope of establishing a more equitable national system. Qiyi's elderly health care premium subsidy is funded by the central government's budget, and safeguarding the medical rights of disadvantaged elderly people is never an alternative. Since the government has the responsibility to take care of the elderly in general, it also has the responsibility to protect the economically disadvantaged. After the law is revised, the original medical protection for the disadvantaged will not be reduced, and the newly increased health insurance subsidies should also be implemented. This is the real goal that the practice should achieve.
