Page 132 - 2018 Annual Report Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan

Collective Experiences The Overall Landscape Unit 5: Major Events in 2018 (5) Promoting trial implementation insurance Amendments to the “Farmer Health Insurance Act” promulgated on June 13, 2018 not only replaced the Ministry of the Interior with the COA as the “central competent authority” for farmers’ health insurance, they also (based on the potential risk of occupational hazards to farmers working in the fields) added provisions for trial implementation of farmer’s occupational injury insurance (hereafter FOII). On October 9, 2018, the COA announced the “Regulations for Trial Operation of Farmers’ Occupational Injury Insurance” and launched trial implementation on November 1, 2018. These measures enable people who actually cultivate the land and who are insured under farmers’ health insurance to voluntarily apply to enroll in FOII. It is expected that the new rules will advance farmers’ occupational safety and economic compensation, and write a new chapter for labor safety insurance systems for farmers. FOII offers four types of payments: (i) injury payments, (ii) subsidies for medical expenses, (iii) payments to the disabled, and (iv) funeral subsidies. This means that FOII adds two new additional types of payments compared to farmers’ health insurance—injury payments and subsidies for medical expenses—and moreover it increases payments for the disabled by 50% and funeral subsidies by 100%, offering greater safeguards for farmers who suffer occupational injury. In order to set norms for the scope of coverage offered by FOII, on October 17 of 2018 the COA finalized the “Examination Regulations for Farmer Insurance Insured Person’s Injury Due to Agricultural Executive Duties.” These Regulations set “engaged in agricultural work” and “at the site of in- the-elds tasks” as the basic principles for the scope of coverage of FOII. They also expanded “engaged in in-the-eld tasks” to include essential and reasonable collateral behavior. In addition, they incorporated (i) “injuries caused by external forces while working in the fields” and (ii) health problems that are commonly seen among those doing agricultural work (including pesticide poisoning, heat stroke, febrile convulsions, and heat exhaustion), into the scope of coverage. Moreover, on November 12 of 2018, the COA announced the “Regulations for Processing Disputes Concerning Farmers’ Health Insurance and Occupational Injury Insurance.” These guarantee the right to seek administrative relief for insured persons, beneficiaries, organizations that take out farmers’ health insurance and FOII, persons who pay funeral expenses, and interested parties when there are disputes over (i) insured items, (ii) premiums, (iii) insurance payments, (iv) occupational 130