Five national medical organizations have issued a joint statement backing the government’s push for concrete tax reforms to help stabilize the workforce in emergency, critical care, and rare disease treatment.
In light of a growing wave of resignations among emergency room and neurology physicians, Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), under the Health Ministry, announced Wednesday that it is considering changes to the current tax system for hospital doctors. One key proposal under discussion is exempting doctors’ overtime pay from income tax, with potential implementation as early as next year’s filing season.
In a joint statement released Thursday, the Taiwan Hospital Association, Taiwan Medical Association, Taiwan Union of Nurses Association, Taiwan Nongovernmental Hospitals and Clinics Association, and Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives voiced strong support for the initiative.
They called on the government to take real action and referenced international practices in the U.K. and Germany, where on-call stipends for physicians are either tax-exempt or subject to reduced taxation. The statement also urged the adoption of fairer tax treatment for medical workers, akin to compensation models offered to police and firefighters. To ease workforce pressures, the groups advocated for differentiated subsidies tailored to high-stress specialties such as emergency medicine, critical care, anesthesiology, obstetrics, and pediatrics.