They didn’t give me the obscure rules that explained why I’m eligible when the rules say that foreigners are not eligible. In fact for the only time ever in my twenty-odd years of Taiwan experience they are applying the citizen rules to foreigners (primarily because it’s in their interest to do so)
iiuc, article 14 means if you lose your residency. Otherwise, many people on marriage ARC would easily lose their eligibility and they cannot suspend and reactivate by definition.
Sorry I was editing my previous message when you replied.
My insurance was already inactive and I’d been gone more than six months. It should not have been possible to reactivate it until I had reestablished residency because by the wording of the law I am not eligible simply by holding a valid residence permit.
What do you mean by this?
I thought stop nhi meant 停保, so if it was 退保, it is different from what I thought.
But, citizens do 退保 when they move out their hukou. Foreigners on ARC do 退保, when their residency expired. How APRC holders do 退保 with valid APRC?
Can they be treated as moving out, with their citizen family?
You’re right, I actually did 停保 not 退保 when I left Taiwan. It’s been long enough that I’m starting to forget things…
I’ve still been treated as a local under Article 8 rather than a foreigner under Article 9.
First and only time Taiwan decided to treat me as a local and naturally it brought me no net benefit. Nor will it ever bring me any net benefit now as a return within the two year window to retain NHI benefits is out of the question.
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By 停保, you just inactivated your nhi. Your eligibility was continued as long as your APRC was valid, and the 停保/suspension was within 2 years.
Foreigners don’t lose nhi eligibility while they suspend/inactivate nhi. So, 6 months waiting period to be eligible isn’t applied. Once foreigners do 退保, we should wait for 6 months to enroll again if not by employment.
Just following on from this conversation (I have a spouse ARC and may change to a TARC soon).
If I deactivate my NHI, stay overseas for more than 6 months, return less than 2 years later (once per year) for a visit but don’t reactivate NHI, am I able to reactivate my NHI immediately any time I return?
I may return to Australia for a few years. My point is to maintain my private health insurance in Taiwan for future use and also because it’s cheaper than private health insurance in Australia. Should I get sick, I want to be able to fly to Taiwan, immediately reactivate NHI and go to a hospital and get whatever I need done, done.
If I need to maintain NHI in order to use Private health here (TW NHI + private health premium is still cheaper than just private health in Oz), I will but I don’t want to pay an unnecessary bill.
Australian public system has huge wait time problems and overburdened GPs (and the system for seeing GPs there isn’t as good as Taiwan)but good quality care. Private system is just expensive (but nothing like the US expensive)
you can. though, nhi premium are charged since the date you reenter even if you don’t submit an application for reenrollment, then if you don’t submit an application for suspension after three months again, you will be billed for all the days since your first reentry, when you try to reactivate.
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They will be on the hook for the payments yes but if they don’t notify NHI the card will remain deactivated. So you have all the payment liabilities but won’t get to use it until you go to the office to reactivate it.
And now NHI computers are tied to immigration so they will get their pound of flesh
Jianbao just hit me with a massive bill for my wife and kids, and they grabbed it directly out of my salary without calling me first (wife and kids left for 5 months then re-entered, they knew immediately and deducted for all the previous five months owed from my salary, even though previously it was my wife’s union account which paid their premium. They couldn’t get from my wife who wasnt working so they just went straight into my salary). They can do that which is pretty crazy.!
Obviously just a cash grab because they can get much more under my salary scale.
I guess the first 'mistake ’ was them reentering in a period less tha six months so you haveto pay all the 5 month period to get NHI coverage again. They had already given the '停保 notification. The second mistake was my wife not getting onto it immeduately through her ‘union’ so instead they went after me, a juicier prospect.
But I can’t believe they dipped my salary first without any phone call or warning.
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I thought per family member it was levied based off your total household income bracket. Did they take more? It’s not a small sum anyway, even for a family of four on a modest wage. Last time I looked at ours, jianbao was more than our income tax.
It levels off or free for the next kid. Yes.
I got charged full rate for 4x. If only 2 kids no discount. Oh well.
I see, that’s a shocker.
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