Xu Chenzhou (left), head of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Court, and Zhang Yonghong (right), the spokesman, explained the 111-year Constitutional Judgment No. 19.

(Photo by reporter Wu Zhengfeng)

[Reporter Wu Zhengfeng/Taipei Report] A woman surnamed Li lived abroad for a long time, so she stopped paying health insurance premiums, but she didn't know that even if she returned to China for a short time to visit relatives, she would automatically reinstate the insurance, so she was chased for 2,247 yuan.

Ms. Li questioned that Articles 37 and 39 of the National Health Insurance Law were unconstitutional, and petitioned for constitutional interpretation. On the 23rd, the Constitutional Court made the 111th Constitution Judgment No. 19, declaring it unconstitutional, which would become invalid after 2 years.

The judgment pointed out that the national health insurance suspension and reinsurance system affects the rights and obligations of the insured and involves major public interests. Requirements of the principle of legal retention.

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There is no clear legal authorization in the implementation rules of health insurance for the suspension and reinsurance. It directly regulates the suspension, reinsurance and other important rights and obligations, which has violated the principle of legal reservation. potency.

However, because the relevant provisions of the ruling order will become invalid after 2 years, the 560,000 Taiwanese studying and working abroad should still follow the current regulations within these 2 years.

However, the Constitutional Court emphasized that the implementation rules only violate the clarity of the law, and do not violate the independent decision-making power of proportion, equality, property, and management of one's own health risks. Whether to maintain the suspension and reinsurance system in the future is a decision made by legislators based on social risk sharing. However, the normative form and specific content of the revised law should still comply with the principle of legal reservation.

The National Health Insurance Law stipulates that every citizen is obliged to take out health insurance, but the implementation rules give a convenient door for long-term travelers such as dual nationality, overseas work or study, that is, they can stop the insurance when they go abroad and are exempted from paying health insurance premiums, but they still have to return to China. The insurance must be automatically reinstated, and the insurance can be terminated again after 3 months.

Ms. Li has lived abroad for a long time, and she has stopped her health insurance, but she still retains her Chinese nationality.

The National Health Insurance Department found that Ms. Li would return to China briefly every year to visit her relatives, which met the requirements for reinsurance, and sent a letter asking her to pay 2,247 yuan in total for three months of health insurance premiums.

Ms. Li was dissatisfied. She advocated returning to the country to visit relatives instead of taking advantage of health insurance. However, the health insurance fee was charged. The implementation of Articles 37 and 38 of the Detailed Rules may be unconstitutional, and she petitioned for constitutional interpretation.

Although Ms. Li successfully interpreted the constitution, the judge did not think that the suspension and reinstatement system was unconstitutional, so she appealed to the court for a retrial based on this judgment, and she may not necessarily be exempted from paying the 2,249 yuan health insurance premium.