HEALTH:
Following a Constitutional Court ruling in 2022, Taiwanese traveling abroad for six months would no longer be able to suspend their insurance

• By Chiu Chih-jou and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Measures that allow people to suspend National Health Insurance (NHI) services if they intend to leave the country for six months will be abolished from December 23, NHIA Director General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday.

The decision followed the Constitutional Court’s 2022 ruling that the regulation was unconstitutional and that it would automatically invalidate the regulation unless the NHIA amended it to comply with the Constitution.

The agency will amend the regulations to remove articles and sections that allow suspension of NHI services, and also introduce provisional clauses for those who suspended their NHI services before Dec. 23, Shih said.

Photo: Chiu Chih-jou, Taipei Times

Under current regulations, people who expect to leave the country for six months or more can apply to suspend their NHI status and payment obligation until they return and apply to resume NHI status.

The vast majority of people who benefited from the measures were those who planned to be abroad for more than six months, although there were rare cases of people who were found in Taiwan after suspending their status, Shih said.

People who do not return to Taiwan within two years will have their NHI records deleted, he said.

The regulations have long been criticized as unfair because they allowed overseas Taiwanese to regain their NHI status and enjoy medical services in Taiwan despite living abroad and not paying for the service.

With the NHIA’s decision not to change the regulations, the 210,000 Taiwanese currently abroad – mostly expatriates and students – would have to resume paying for the NHI, which is expected to bring in US$2.3 billion (70.59 million USD) in increased annual NHI revenue, Shih said.

Those overseas will automatically have their NHI resumed once they return to Taiwan and would not have to go through additional processes or pay additional fees, he said.