Wu orders health chiefs to ease insurance rules

Wu said hospitals cannot keep patients out of their doors simply because their NHI cards are subject to suspension for whatever reason, because rejecting patients is against basic humanitarian practice.

The premier directed the DOH to come up with effective countermeasures in accordance with different reasons behind suspension of NHI cards.

Teng Shih-hui, a division chief of the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) under the DOH, said that there are around 600,000 local people owing health insurance premium fees, and some 300,000 of them have seen their NHI cards blocked from normal use because they have failed to honor premium payments for over three months, despite repeated requests to settle their debts.

Teng said besides low-income earners who can't afford the monthly NHI premium payment, there have been several local people who have intentionally declined to pay the NHI premium fees or have gone abroad.

He continued that the DOH has relaxed relevant regulations in the second-generation national health insurance bill to allow low-income earners and those who suffer domestic violence to enjoy normal use of their NHI cards even if they fail to pay the fees.

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