Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/07/04
By: P. N. Lung and Lillian Lin

Taipei, July 4 (CNA) Social welfare organizations are questioning the financing of long-term care services and the government’s plan for a long-term care services insurance act to pass the Legislature in 2017 and be in force in 2020, since the Legislature passed the bill for long-term care services on May 15, 2015.

Taiwan’s society is aging and increasing numbers of disabled and elderly people require long-term care. An initiative of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in 2008 under a 10-year plan started to set aside an annual average of NT$4.8 billion (US$154.8 million) to help families caring for the disabled and those suffering senile dementia.

According to the welfare organizations, while recognizing that the government has had a tight budget, the special appropriation was hardly sufficient to serve its purpose. Many families desperately in need of assistance were not covered in the 10-year plan.   [FULL  STORY]