英文摘要
The National Health Insurance (NHI) Law stipulates that the local government should share proportionally the insurance fee of health care, which
has caused a chain reaction of payment denial﹒ With regard to various disputes over the system and scholarly theory, such as the division of functions between the central and local governments and the local financing powers, the Taipei City Government has sought for a constitutional interpretation of the NHI Law to the Grand Justices of the, Judicial Yuan.
This article, from constitutional and lawful points of view, looks into the reality of local government's sharing the cost of NHI program, in respect of the rightfulness of petitioning for constitutional interpretation by the local government and the related theory of autonomy. This study finds out that since the NHI program is nationwide in substance, it is clear that the central government is responsible for the policy and execution. While the NHI program also falls into the category of social insurance, hence the local government has its share to contribute that is, its reasonable ratio stipulated by law is no contradiction to the Constitution. However, what leaves room to dispute is that based upon the cooperative partnership of the central and local governments,the local government should have had the opportunities to take part in the policy making process, and asked for the local council's approval if necessary. The fact that NHI Law "forcefully" imposes part of insurance fee on the local government could undermine the fundamentals of autonomy and is worthy of further deliberation and improvement.