Taiwan: Health ministry studies need for long term care insurance scheme
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Nov 2019
The Ministry of Health and Welfare will assess a proposal to implement an insurance scheme to support the Long-term Care Services Development Fund, minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung said.
The Ministry of Finance asked the health ministry to assess the feasibility of a long-term care insurance programme, reported Taipei Times.
At present, the long-term care services programme, implemented by President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration, is mainly financed by tobacco and inheritance taxes, which are seen as unstable sources of funding.
Professor Lee Yuchun of the Health and Welfare Institute at National Yang-ming University said that based on current income and expenditure trends, the fund would run out of money by 2027, when senior citizens would form 20% of the total population.
Currently, around 800,000 people need long term care, and this number is forecast to exceed 1m by 2027. A