Approval from medical groups: Increasing the burden on young people
Quick Look
- Blue and White legislators suddenly amended Article 22 of the "Elderly Welfare Act" to delete the provision that local governments subsidize part of the cost of health insurance for disadvantaged elders.
- Medical groups believe that local subsidies will not be easily abolished, but amending the law will increase the financial burden on the central government and increase the health insurance burden on young people, leading to the crowding out of medical resources and ultimately all patients will suffer.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
Blue and White legislators recently made a surprise move to pass the 22nd Amendment to the Elderly Welfare Act, hastily deleting the provision requiring local governments to subsidize the health insurance-related expenses of vulnerable elders. Medical groups believe that local governments have subsidized the disadvantaged elderly for many years and are unlikely to cancel it. However, the key is to increase the health insurance burden on young people, crowding out medical resources, and ultimately all patients will suffer.
Blue and White legislators recently made a surprise move to force through the 22nd Amendment to the Elderly Welfare Act, hastily deleting relevant provisions requiring local governments to subsidize the "partial cost of health insurance" and "expenses other than health insurance benefits" for disadvantaged elders.
Although Blue and White made a mistake and deleted the relevant provisions of the "Old Welfare Law" that originally required local governments to subsidize the "partial cost of health insurance" and "expenses other than health insurance benefits" for disadvantaged elders, Hong Ziren, chairman of the Taiwan Society of Medical Management, believes that various county and municipal governments have provided subsidies to disadvantaged elders for many years. These benefits have long been a "reality" that has been implemented for a long time and are difficult to withdraw. There is no need to worry about local governments canceling existing subsidies.
Please read on...
Hong Ziren also mentioned that some local governments have already used their own budgets to subsidize the elderly's health care premiums. If the new law is officially implemented and the elderly's health care premiums are subsidized by the central government, local governments will no longer need to use their own budgets to subsidize the elderly's health care premiums. This will be like "an extra budget available" and may even be used to increase existing subsidies.
However, Hong Ziren is worried that if the past subsidy status of the elderly’s health insurance premiums in “metropolitan areas” and “non-metropolitan areas” is taken into account, the budget scale of health insurance subsidy for the elderly in metropolitan areas can reach billions of dollars, which is much higher than that in non-metropolitan areas. After the new law comes into effect, there will be a significant difference in the available budgets in metropolitan areas and non-metropolitan areas. Metropolitan areas will have more budget resources to allocate, which is contrary to the idea that all walks of life expect resources to be equitably distributed to counties and cities to help the development of non-metropolitan areas.
This revision of the "Old Benefit Law" has also caused a strong backlash from the medical community. Chen Xiangguo, chairman of the All-Federation of Medical Associations, bluntly stated that the vast majority of elderly people over the age of 65 are under the payment threshold of the revised law. The new law is essentially equivalent to "comprehensive exemption from health insurance premiums for those over 65 years old."
Chen Xiangguo emphasized that in the past ten years, more than 60% of the growth in health insurance medical expenses comes from people over the age of 65. The government's statutory burden may be "backdoor deductions", and the real income of health insurance will be short-circuited and the income tax rate will be used to exclude the rich. The result may be an increase in the health insurance burden of young people. In order to fill the income gap caused by the exemption of health insurance premiums for the elderly, it will also cause the crowding out of medical resources. In the end, all patients will suffer. Hasty legislation without financial actuarial calculation also violates the spirit of health insurance sustainability.
What to Watch
AI outlook — possibilities, not facts
After the law is revised, metropolitan areas will receive more available budget due to increased central subsidies, while non-metropolitan areas will have relatively insufficient budgets.
Likely · Within months
The health insurance burden of young people will increase as the elderly are exempted from paying health insurance premiums to make up for the shortfall in health insurance revenue.
Very likely · Within months
Open Questions
- Will the central government really cover the health insurance premiums for disadvantaged elderly people in full after the law is revised?
- Is there really a significant gap in budget allocation between metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas?
- How will the health care burden of young people specifically increase?
