Asian News - Taiwan: Long-term care insurance plan may be launched in 2018
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Jul 2015
A long-term care insurance programme is tentatively set to be launched in Taiwan in 2018 and is expected to benefit around 820,000 people, a Cabinet official has said. The long-term care insurance Bill cleared the Cabinet in early June and will be submitted to the Legislative Yuan for final approval, reported the Central News Agency.
According to the Bill, the premium rate for the insurance will be 1.19% during the first three years of the launch of the programme, and will be re-calculated every three years. Employers will shoulder 40% of the premiums, while the insured individuals will be responsible for 30% and the government will cover the remaining 30%, the Bill stipulated.
Minister without Portfolio, Ms Feng Yen, said that a person earning NT$30,000 (US$971) per month will need to pay NT$108 in monthly long-term care insurance premiums, while a person earning NT$50,000 will need to pay NT$180, which is only 20% of the premiums for National Health Insurance.
There are four levels of disability, ranging from between 15 and 93 hours of insurance-covered services per month, Ms Feng said. Individuals who are diagnosed as severely disabled and who require all-day accommodation care will be able to receive services worth NT$21,300 per month, she said.
She said the insurance programme will cost an estimated NT$110 billion per year, which means the government will need to earmark a budget of NT$40 billion per year to cover its share.