Plans that may require single people to pay proportionately higher premiums under the second-generation "National Health Insurance" (NHI) program have drawn fire from a Kuomintang legislator, who is himself single.

"Since these individuals did not cause the NHI's financial woes, why is the government asking them to shoulder the responsibility?" Hsieh Kuo-liang queried during a press conference Tuesday.

Under the government's second-generation NHI plan, premiums would be calculated purely on the basis of total household income. Households with identical income levels would be charged the same premium regardless of the number of individuals in the household. This plan has drawn criticism for placing what is being called an unfair burden on people who are unmarried.

Hsieh argued many factors led people to remain single, and he stressed that being without a spouse was not a crime.

He appealed to the Department of Health to empathize with the choices of single individuals and refrain from making them feel stigmatized because of the new NHI plan.

Citing figures compiled by the Population Department of the "Ministry of the Interior", Hsieh said there are 5.11 million single people in Taiwan aged 20 or over, not including those who are divorced or have lost a spouse.

He also noted that people are getting married later than in the past, with the average man tying the knot at 31 and the average women at 28 in 2009, an indication that marriage is not an easy choice.

In today's difficult economic environment, imposing an even greater economic burden on singles through a second-generation health insurance plan only makes it more difficult for people to contemplate marriage, Hsieh contended.

A Mr Lin who spoke at the press conference said he hopes to get married someday but he complained that, at a time when prices for many commodities are on the rise while pay levels remain flat, getting married is hard for him.

"Higher NHI premiums are pushing my dream of getting married even further away," he claimed.

China Daily/CNA

(HK Edition 04/14/2010 page3)