Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2019
By: Lee I-chia / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Health and Welfare would evaluate the pros and cons of a proposal to implement an insurance system to support the Long-term Care Services Development Fund, Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) said yesterday.
Chen made the remark at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee after the Ministry of Finance asked the health ministry to assess the feasibility of a long-term care insurance program.
Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, last week said in a weekly livestream that if he is elected president, he would launch a long-term care insurance program jointly paid for by policyholders, employers and the government.
Han’s policy advisers have said that the Long-term Care Services Program 2.0, implemented by President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, has an unstable budget source, as it is mainly financed by tobacco and inheritance taxes, and that it would not meet the growing needs for long-term care. [FULL STORY]