Does anyone know if the official rules have come out? It’s so confusing to me 
Why don’t you contact the NHI Office and ask them?
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Could anyone please clarify the rules? Does it apply to both citizens with and without household registration?
Last time me and my spouse reentered Taiwan he was automatically reenrolled and he just paid for 3 months and was supposedly unenrolled. We haven’t been into Taiwan for more than 6months. I was not reenrolled when we last entered.
We are entering Taiwan again at the end of January.
I do not have household registration and he does.
Will we both be automatically re-enrolled when we enter Taiwan next?
Also is it possible to just not pay the premiums forever?
This policy is extremely unfair we already contribute 2% of our earnings to Australia’s public health system and we have private health insurance which is $190AUD a month in order to being hit with a higher contribution to the public health system.
Are there any issues by ‘voting with my dollars’ and to just ignore the premium demands? I don’t want to pay for something that will not and cannot be used.
Also don’t want to ask NHI or the HHRO as they LOVE to give incorrect information.
The news article says that household registration needs to be ‘terminate’. Do they mean moved out?
Yes, just don’t keep any asset or money in Taiwan. They can be seized to pay past due premiums.
Only other way I can think of is don’t maintain household registration. No household registration, no nhi.
Easy for me cos I can just enter Taiwan using my Australian passport and I am still NWOHR anyway.
Not really possible for my husband as he does not have an Australian passport and household registration is ’moved in’ when your return to Taiwan on a Taiwanese passport.
It’s similar to Taiwan applying taxes to citizens abroad but Taiwan is worse cos it applies to EVERYONE not just high income earners
I know people who have returned to Taiwan specifically for medical treatment, so in those cases it would be fair.
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If they were continuing to pay for coverage, of course it’s fair.
Forcing people to pay for coverage who have no need or want for it, is extremely unfair.
Good move, and overdue. The system is overburdened and monthly fees are going up in 2025 as it is. I’ve never been in favor of being able to manipulate the system and not pay for your coverage while you’re overseas for a stretch of months. They should have made that more difficult long ago as many Taiwanese seem to take advantage when they most certainly have the means to pay for their national health insurance.
Are you guys American? I think you are missing the point that Taiwanese overseas living in modern countries with modern governments are already paying for public health in the countries they live in.
Why should they be forced to pay for a service they cannot and will not use?
My point is not to play the system and go to Taiwan and pay a premium when it suits me. My point is that we are already paying 2 premiums for health and will be FORCED into a 3rd with 0 benefit.
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In the instances I mentioned those people lived in Australia… but prefer to have babies etc in Taiwan.
If they continued to pay their premiums or paid to give birth in Taiwan out of pocket then I don’t see the problem? That is their choice.
The problem is forcing payment for junk insurance. Which Australia actually has laws against.
There’s a way around it, the article says one can cancel their household registration.
How are they defined? I don’t think Taiwan’s nhi is junk insurance.
Also it’s probably not a bad idea for your partner to naturalize to Australian, if not protect against deportations.
But from what I hear, your hhr is automatically gone if you’re out for more than 2 years. You only regain nhi after 6 months.
That’s why I asked if they are referring to ‘moving out’ household registration which is useless cos
You get moved back in as soon as you enter Taiwan.
Or do they mean ‘renounce’ household registration?
It’s also confusing because it was also ruled that foreigners (so presumably NWOHR as well) also cannot suspend coverage.
It was aimed at banks selling rubbish policies. I don’t think NHI is junk if you live in Taiwan OR you do not have other health coverage.
He will when he is eligible.
he isn’t planning on breaking the law.
I would say they are referring to moving out status as they then go on to say that you would start with a brand new nhi account when you return (if you hadn’t paid premiums), which would be impossible if you renounced.
Partner has to meet residency language and character assessment before gaining citizenship. @justintaiwan partner has not been a resident long enough yet.
Naturalized Australians can have citizenship revoked for criminal offences.
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Pretty much halfway there!
Twice more around the sun. Not so long.
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A quick warning about this as either APRC or citizen. Not sure of the specifics of NWOHR
Even if you did not reenrol, and even if your NHI card was not activated, the NHI office got notice that you were back from immigration. NHI gets complete records from immigration, the woman literally wrote out my dates of exit and entry. Which I disagree they should have access to but I digress.
So if you didn’t reenrol and then terminate it correctly at the NHI office when you left, they will just keep calculating what you owe and if or when you decide to come back, you will get a wicked back bill. This is despite the NHI card being unusable. One needs to visit the NHI office to reactivate the card.
I owed a small amount to NHI, less than $1000nt and didn’t get a bill (moved), after a year they reached into my Taiwan account and took the money.
Used to be your benefit was suspended until your payment is current, meaning if you had back pays you couldn’t use NHI at all. Then the rules were changed so your NHI were no longer deactivated if you were past due, mainly because some might just choose to not pay NHI for reasons, and as well as poor people who have no money, and can’t afford to pay NHI, wouldn’t go to the doctors and they would die of preventable causes.
Now they just reach into your account and take their dues.