Whose Insurance Should Retired Parents Be Under? 6 Key Points on Dependency Order and Premium Calculation

According to the "National Health Insurance Act" and other regulations in the Republic of China, here are the key points regarding health insurance enrollment and premium calculation for retired parents without jobs: • Cannot enroll independently at the district office: If retired individuals without jobs meet the eligibility criteria to be dependents of a spouse or child, they must generally enroll as a dependent. They cannot independently change their enrollment to Class 6 local population at the district office; only if there are absolutely no eligible family members to depend on can they enroll at the district office. • Spouse and children are in the same dependency order: In the health insurance dependency order, spouses and first-degree lineal relatives (children) are in the same order. Retired parents can choose to be dependent on "one of them" according to regulations; there is no fixed order where a spouse takes precedence over children. • No specific order among children: If multiple children are employed, the regulations do not specify an order of precedence for "eldest son," "son," or "high earner." Parents can choose one among them to be dependent on. • Premiums vary based on insured amount: The additional health insurance premium may differ depending on which child the parent is dependent on. For example, for an employed person, the dependent's self-paid premium will be higher if the insured amount based on salary is higher. • Limit of 3 dependents for calculation: When the number of dependents exceeds three, the insurance premium is calculated for a maximum of three. If a child already has three dependents being calculated for premiums, adding parents will not incur additional premium costs. • Internal premium sharing can be self-coordinated: Although the system requires the dependent child to deduct the premium, how the cost is shared within the family can be coordinated among siblings.