The Department of Health is planning to give a break for those who cannot afford to pay for the National Health Insurance. The move will benefit 370,000 people who no longer hold insurance cards because of late payments.

Bureau of National Health Insurance locks up health insurance IC cards of those who fail to make payments for more than 3 months in order to avoid those who only pay the fee when they need to see doctors.

Currently, there are some 600,000 people within the health insurance system, whose cards are "locked up."

But many of them are underprivileged.

To protect the rights of the minority, the bureau announced a plan to unlock the cards for the target groups, which include those under the age of 18, people living in poverty and domestic abuse victims.

Some local groups proposed to delete the "lock up" measure in the second generation of health insurance.

But the bureau found that some of the people who don't make health insurance payment are not underprivileged.

A past survey shows that some people still refuse to pay for the insurance fee despite the high annual income of 4 million NTD.

In order to ensure the overall justice, the measure of locking up the cards is not to be abolished.

The new program would benefit 370,000 people.

And the payments will be kept on tab.

When the financial situation improves, these individuals will have to pay back the premiums.

The bureau plans to do the inspection annually, giving these people at least one-year buffer period.

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