The Executive Yuan today proposed an amendment to the Provisional Act Governing Welfare Benefits for Aged Farmers to tighten eligibility requirements for farmers receiving pension benefits—a move that Premier Jiang Yi-huah said would create more fairness in the system.
Under the current system, senior farmers are entitled to a monthly pension if they have been enrolled in the Farmers' Health Insurance (FHI) program for at least six months. But there have been instances of farmland owners not actively engaged in agricultural work, as well as farmers who have been living abroad for many years, still collecting the pension. Today's amendments to Article 3 of the act are intended to keep such persons from unfairly sharing in the government's welfare resources. The new rules, however, would not apply to farmers already receiving the monthly pension or those who have been paying into the FHI since age 50.
Premier Jiang requested the Council of Agriculture (COA) to step up communication with the public to prevent the misunderstanding that farmers' benefits are being improperly curtailed, which may hinder the amendment's approval by the Legislative Yuan. He also instructed the COA to carefully examine farmer qualifications for the FHI to ensure that every welfare dollar is spent on taking care of real farmers who have devoted long years to their labor.
The proposed amendments would:
1.Require a recipient to have joined the FHI or enrolled as a class A member of a fishermen's association for a combined total of at least 15 years. If enrollment totals to less than 15 years when the amendment takes effect and they continue to stay enrolled, they will be entitled to half the monthly pension amount.
2.Add the conditions that a farmer must have a registered residence in Taiwan and has lived there for at least 183 days in each of the last three years. This is meant to keep long-term overseas residents from also receiving the pensions. Pension payments will be suspended if a pensioner fails to meet either of the above requirements, until a time when both conditions are met.