Organization : National Health Insurance Administration
Type of Facility : National Health Insurance Enrollment
Country: Taiwan
Website : http://www.nhi.gov.tw/English/webdata/webdata.aspx?menu=11&menu_id=593&webdata_id=3190&WD_ID=593
National Health Insurance Enrollment :
The National Health Insurance program is compulsory for people living in Taiwan. This program is built on the concept of mutual assistance and depends on the insured paying their premiums according to regulations.
Related : National Health Insurance Card Taiwan : www.statusin.org/7471.html
When people fall ill, the government uses the premiums it receives to help patients pay a major part of their medical and medication costs to contracted health care institutions. In this way, when we are ill, we can obtain appropriate medical care for a relatively small amount of money.
In other words, by paying your monthly National Health Insurance premiums on time, you are not only helping yourself but also receiving help from other premium payers. And when others become ill, they also receive help from you.
Compulsory Enrollment:
The National Health Insurance program is a compulsory social insurance program. By law, every Taiwanese citizen with official residency or foreign national living in Taiwan with an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), regardless of age, gender, or employment status, must enroll in the program. Also, this insurance program lasts an entire lifetime. No one may arbitrarily withdraw, except for those who lose their insurance eligibility (such as people who give up their Taiwan citizenship, move abroad or let their Alien Resident Certificate expire or a person who goes missing).
Taiwanese citizens who reside in Taiwan:
Any Taiwanese citizen whose household is registered in Taiwan must enroll in the National Health Insurance program when their six-month residence has been established. Those who are employed in Taiwan are not subject to the six-month waiting period. Babies with Taiwanese citizenship born in Taiwan must be enrolled in the program from the day they was born. The National Health Insurance program classifies the insured into six categories depending on their employment status.
Individuals who are residents of Taiwan but are unemployed or in between jobs must remain enrolled based on their current insurance status. They cannot interrupt their insurance coverage.
Infants:
Once newborns get a birth certificate, they legally become the dependent of their father or mother (whoever is employed; if both are employed, either may be selected) and should enroll in the health insurance program through their father or mother’s insurance registration organization. Taiwanese citizens born overseas can enroll in the program after they have their household registration for a full six months.
Students:
Full-time students:
Students (defined as individuals studying at an educational institution approved by the Ministry of Education, and who also hold a valid student ID if they are over 20 years of age) who are not employed can enroll as a dependent through the parent of their choice. Those who cannot be a dependent of a parent can enroll as a dependent of their paternal or maternal grandparent. If that is not an option, then they should enroll in the health insurance program at their local village, township, city or area administrative office where they have their household registered.
Students aged over 20:
Students who have reached the age of 20 and are unemployed or have no way to support themselves must still rely on their parents or grandparents to be covered under the health insurance system. The insurance registration organization responsible for their enrollment must submit an “Insurance Renewal Application Form” by the end of the month in which they turn 20. This form, along with documentation proving they are students, should be submitted to the National Health Insurance Administration regional divisions where they are registered to extend their insurance coverage after they turn 20.
The Employed:
** Those who are employed should enroll through their company or business firm, or its affiliated organization:
** Company chairpersons/owners: They can serve as their own insurance registration unit. If they have other jobs, then they can be insured through their main employer.
** Company employees with fixed employers: They are enrolled through their employers.
** Those employed, but without a fixed employer: Individuals who are members of an occupational union, farmers’, or fishermen’s association, or who are actively engaged in farming- or fishing-related jobs, should enroll in the health insurance program through their occupational union, farmers’ , or fishermen’s association.
** Individuals working two jobs at the same time: They should be registered in the program through their main employer (determined by the place at which more hours are worked; if hours worked are similar, then income can be used as the deciding factor).
** Individuals on unpaid leave: They can have their employers, if they are willing, continue to register them using their original income basis.
** Parents of newborn children who take unpaid parental leave under the “Gender Equality in Employment Act” can either continue to have their employers register them under their original income basis or be registered through their employed spouses.
The Unemployed:
** Individuals who are unemployed and qualify as dependents should be registered in the insurance program through employed spouses or direct blood relatives.
** If individuals cannot be enrolled through spouses or direct blood relatives, they should apply to the administrative office in the village, township, city or area where their household is registered.
** Veterans or dependent of deceased veterans can enroll in the program through the administrative office in the village, township, city or area where their household is registered.