A new "Taiwan 368 Care Services" program will invest over NT$10 billion (US$332.3 million) to place an adult day care center in each of the 368 townships, cities and districts across the island by 2016, Premier Jiang Yi-huah announced today. In addition, government subsidies for care services and the hourly wage for care givers will both be increased by more than 10 percent.
The premier made the announcement while visiting an elderly day care facility in Taipei City's Zhongshan District ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival weekend. The government attaches great importance to long-term care, he stressed, and providing flexible day care services and higher wages will help meet rising demands for elder care services and retain more basic workers.
Care givers' salaries primarily come from government subsidies for care services and have not been adjusted for rising living costs for more than a decade. Hence, the lower wages have deterred people from entering or remaining in the long-term care service industry. Once the subsidy is increased to NT$200 from NT$180 per hour starting July, care givers' hourly pay will rise accordingly to NT$170 from NT$150. This will help recruit and retain more talent, Jiang said.
As of April, people aged 65 and above in Taiwan numbered 2.74 million, accounting for 11.73 percent of the general population. Combined with problem of declining birth rates, Taiwan is expected to become an "aged society" by 2018 when 14.5 percent of the total population is over 65, and a "super-aged society" by 2025 when 20 percent is over 65. As such, the government has prepared early on, promoting long-term care policies and building daily care and medical care networks, Jiang said.
With most of the country's elderly preferring to stay in their own residences or communities, the National 10-year Long-term Care Plan launched in 2008 has been developing home care and community services to assist senior citizens during the day when their families are away at work, Jiang said.
During his years as minister of the interior, Premier Jiang initiated a program that had built 120 adult day care centers across the country as of the end of 2013. Now, to make care services more accessible and ubiquitous, the premier asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to plan for a day care facility in every township, city and district, so that the elderly can receive assistance and care right in their communities.
From 2014 to 2016, the "Taiwan 368 Care Services" program will invest NT$2.42 billion in developing day care services and another NT$7.67 billion in increasing subsidies for care services. The program is expected to provide a variety of services directly to over 12,000 families, while attracting over 10,000 workers and benefiting over 60,000 families.