DOH chief to brief Ma on NHI reform plan March 17

According to Yaung, the DOH could not go along with Wu's insistence that 75 percent of the people should be unaffected by the planned increases and that only the wealthiest 25 percent should be made to pay more.

Yaung said Monday he could only assure Wu that 59 percent of the insured would remain unaffected by the premium hikes.

As of the end of last year, the national health insurance program had accumulated a debt of NT$58.8 billion and the amount may zoom to an estimated NT$101.5 billion by the end of 2010 if no adjustment is made.

Ma's Views

Su Jun-pin, spokesman of the KMT, said President Ma with Minister Yaung at KMT headquarters before a weekly KMT Central Standing Committee meeting in the morning.

It marked the first time the president, who concurrently serves as KMT chairman, had met with Yaung since the latter announced his surprise resignation.

During their brief meeting, the president convinced him to stay in his post while Yaung presented Ma with a DOH-drafted insurance premium reform report, said Su.

The president expressed his views that there are not many differences among the various versions of premium rate adjustments and that they can be ironed out because they were only technical details, according to Su.

While attending a gathering of business and industry leaders, Premier Wu said he will continue the efforts to retain Yaung on the position.

Wu emphasized that he and Yaung hold similar views with only slight differences concerning technical details.

But the final decision will not be made after Minister Yaung present the DOH's views and proposal at the meeting set for next Wednesday at the Presidential Office.

Wu said he himself will also give briefings to both President Ma and Legislative Yuan Speaker Wang Jin-pyng next week to select the best option among three sets of proposals and solve all technical issues.

He clarified that the controversy concerning the premium rate adjustments is not a case “professionalism versus populism” as alleged by some critics.

Wu said his stand is to include the financial burden to be faced by the people into overall consideration.

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