Taiwan People's Party Proposal to Link Healthcare Worker Salaries to NHI Contracts Sparks Debate

Liu Lin-yi, Chief Secretary of the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, explained to the media today that discussions are ongoing regarding the proposed amendment to the special management regulations to ensure healthcare personnel salaries. The NHIA previously convened a communication meeting for the draft amendment, and various stakeholders' opinions are still being communicated. Liu Lin-yi stated that to achieve the substantive goal of salary improvement, the NHIA continues to cooperate with the Ministry of Health and Welfare's care division policies, continuously injecting funds through the total budget to adjust payment standards. Last year, NT$2.5 billion was injected to adjust payment standards related to inpatient nursing, linking it to the increase in insured salaries for nursing staff. This year, an additional NT$4.5 billion has been allocated for nursing fees. In the future, the effectiveness of the system's implementation will be monitored to support medical institutions in strengthening the salary and treatment guarantees for healthcare personnel. Lin Ying-jan, Chairman of the Taiwan Primary Care Association, recently wrote to the media, pointing out that the Taiwan People's Party legislative caucus recently proposed an amendment to the 'National Health Insurance Act,' which would make reaching a certain standard of monthly insured salary for healthcare personnel a condition for renewing NHI contracts. This could be seen as an abuse of power interfering with the autonomous operation of medical institutions. Lin Ying-jan stated that salaries should be negotiated between labor and management and handled according to labor-related laws and regulations, and should not be a condition for NHI contracts. The NHIA is the sole dominant insurer, and medical institutions have no other options for contracting. Forcibly linking 'healthcare personnel salary standards into contract management' would be tantamount to 'those who obey prosper, those who defy perish.' The National Federation of Nurses Associations of the Republic of China issued a statement saying that reforms to healthcare salaries and human resource systems should not be narrowed down to the proposal of a single political party or individual. How relevant systems are designed and implemented truly deserves rational and pragmatic institutional dialogue through public hearings, expert meetings, and cross-group discussions, rather than replacing professional discussion with political rhetoric. The statement pointed out that the nursing profession has long focused on how to establish reasonable staffing and salary guarantee systems, enabling healthcare personnel to provide care services in a safe and sustainable environment. This is not only a professional issue but also an important public policy concerning national health and the sustainability of the medical system. Therefore, it calls for discussion of the system and debate on reforms, but not with emotional and labeling language that blurs the real problems that need to be solved.