Taiwan has experienced economic prosperity, political democratization, and the rise of an "entitlement mentality" among citizens. The most concrete reflection of this combination of circumstances is that budgets for social welfare at all levels of government have been growing. Who is getting what of the social welfare pie? What are the concepts underlying its distribution? And what myths are there?
Wednesday is the day on which Group Leader Lin and his team visit elderly people living alone. Once again, his team of several older women, wearing their usual uniforms of rubber sandals, face masks, and gloves, make their way into the tiny back alleys of the busy city. Today, they will clean house for an old veteran called "Old Yu."
No more free lunch
Old Yu's rented residence is dank and dark. The house reeks of dog urine, leftover food, and the special aroma of the old man himself. The floor is alternately slippery and sticky, and neighbors are repelled by the place. Yet Lin and his team take it all in stride, cleaning up on the one hand and chatting with the old man as they work.
The Nantou Charitable Association has long been quietly providing volunteer services to elderly people living alone. Beginning last year, they received a commission from the Nantou County Social Welfare Department. The bureau began subsidizing them to expand services to more lone elderly at a rate of NT$180 per hour for up to 20 hours per month for up to 200 cases.
However, "we can't be sure that this subsidy, which comes from the Ministry of the Interior, will be available every year," says Chen Chun-li, an office director in the Nantou County Social Welfare Department. Nantou has already worked out an agreement with the charitable association, so that should the subsidy from the central government stop, they will still be able to keep the work going. Meanwhile, the trial program of delivering free meals to elderly persons living alone that was initiated by the Taiwan Provincial Government may be canceled because of the downsizing of the provincial administration.
Care for lone elderly persons is similar in many ways to other welfare programs. The laws are constantly being changed, and the central and local governments are constantly fighting a see-saw battle over money. Thus the programs can only hobble along.
A problem of even greater concern for the cities and counties of Taiwan is that assistance for middle- and low-income households with handicapped persons, which has been provided for over three years now, has suddenly been expanded by the Ministry of the Interior. The MOI simply eliminated the upper limit on incomes for eligibility for the program. As a result cities and counties find that the amount they originally budgeted is inadequate. Faced with empty treasuries, handicapped citizens who come forward to apply full of hope end up with a litany of complaints.
"For this program, the central government was supposed to pay 65%, the provincial government 13%, and the city and county governments 22%. We appropriated funding based on previous experience. Now that the number of eligible people has been greatly expanded, we had a shortfall of roughly NT$13 million from April to June. The central government unilaterally made new promises to handicapped people, but didn't accept full financial responsibility. What are those of us in relatively poor counties supposed to do?" asks Stella Chen, a member of the National Assembly who agreed to become Nantou Social Welfare Department director at the express invitation of county executive Peng Pai-hsien.
"More filial than my own son!"
Meanwhile, in the large and impressive Hsinchu County government office building, staff in the department of social affairs are busy planning for another social welfare law.
Hsinchu County has a special place in the hearts of elderly people. Over the last two elections for city and county executives, candidates from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) have promised to provide NT$5,000 per month to persons over 65 years old. Thus far, Hsinchu is the only county to have fulfilled its promise. It has been providing the subsidy for four years now.
There are about 39,000 elderly in the county. Except for about 5,000 who are receiving civil service pensions, the remainder, regardless of assets, receive the monthly subsidy. "The county executive is more filial than my own son!" has already become a slogan for elderly welfare in Hsinchu County.
Naturally, those receiving civil service pensions who have been excluded from the Hsinchu subsidy program complain. "Doesn't the DPP claim to respect the elderly? Don't they say they appreciate the contributions made by the elderly? Is it possible that those of us who worked in the government all our lives did nothing but eat and drink from the public trough without making any contribution at all?" wonders old Mr. Hsieh, a resident of Chutung who is a retired employee of Taiwan Fertilizer Corporation, a state-run firm. Wealthy neighbors of his such as a former doctor or business executive get their money, and inevitably he feels the system is unjust.
For these past few years, the nearly NT$2 billion per year required for the elderly subsidy has taken up more than 90% of the county's social welfare budget. This has not only squeezed out programs for other disadvantaged groups, it has even brought local construction to a halt.
Early this year, the Executive Yuan eliminated "means testing" restrictions which excluded wealthy farmers from receiving the "elderly farmers' subsidy." All elderly farmers can now receive the monthly payment of NT$3,000. Indeed, those previously excluded can retroactively pick up their money dating back to the beginning of the program in 1995. The decision to expand this program, which is paid out of the budget of the Council of Agriculture, an agency of the central government, has provided a glimmer of hope to Hsinchu County, whose coffers are nearly exhausted.
"This decision has really rescued us," admits Fan Kuo-chuan, director of the Department of Social Affairs for Hsinchu County. Currently they are printing leaflets encouraging elderly people to first apply for the farmers' subsidy. It is estimated that 20,000 persons can be transferred from the county elderly subsidy rolls to the farmers' subsidy program. This would save the county about NT$600-700 million per year. Hsinchu meanwhile will make up the NT$2,000 difference between the elderly subsidy and the farmers' subsidy. "We can't let elderly people lose out," says Fan.
Nobody has better welfare!
Nevertheless, even as the problem with the elderly subsidy has seen a turn for the better, new social welfare programs have gotten underway. Beginning last July, as a result of a campaign promise by county executive Lin Kuang-hua, Hsinchu County became the first jurisdiction in Taiwan to provide "birth subsidies." If either husband or wife can claim Hsinchu County as their formal place of residence (as registered before the end of July 1997), the couple can receive NT$10,000 for each baby born. Given that there are to eight to nine thousand births a year in Hsinchu County, this will cost the County about NT$90 million per year. At one fell stroke, this will take 90% of the entire county budget for welfare services for women.
"Some people may wonder: 'How can you be giving away money again?' But it's just like the situation with the elderly subsidy-there's a demonstration effect. The central government had no choice but to broaden the program of elderly farmer subsidies and to create the citizens' annuity. Once our 'birth subsidy' began, neighboring cities and counties had to follow suit. For example, now Miaoli County offers NT$3,000 per birth, while Hsinchu City provides NT$3,600," says Fan, endeavoring to defend a policy which he knew from the start would inevitably raise questions.
In fact, popularly elected city and county executives across Taiwan are now competing with each other to come up with new welfare programs.
Taipei City began issuing a subsidy of NT$2,500 per child to low-income households with children under six, and preschool education subsidies for five-year-olds worth NT$5,000 per semester. Following suit, this July Taipei County plans to begin issuing preschool education subsidies of NT$5,000 per year. Any household with a child over three attending a private nursery school can apply.
"In fact this is something we didn't really want to do, but we had little choice," says Taipei County vice-executive Lin Wan-yi, who is known from his academic days as an authority on social welfare issues. "Is it better to give money to individuals? Or to establish government institutions?" This difficult choice confronts every government in every country. For example, preschool education is known to have a significant influence on children, and should be a right enjoyed by one and all. However, faced with inadequate funding and the difficulty of finding land for school construction, many local governments cannot at the moment establish their own nursery schools. All they can do is settle for the second-best alternative of reducing the financial burden on citizens who send their children to private nursery schools.
Lin does not hide the fact that, like Hsinchu, Taipei County faces the dilemma of its elderly subsidy taking up a huge portion of the county's budget. (Though only issued four times a year, the subsidy still took half of the NT$5.8 billion welfare budget for 1999.) Fortunately, the Executive Yuan recently announced that the citizens' annuity program would begin in 2000. Citizens over 65 years old will be able to claim, on average, NT$2,000 per month. Immediately after this announcement, Taipei County decided that it would halt its elderly subsidies beginning in 2001. What will they do with the money they save? Lin already has plenty of ideas.
Policies currently being contemplated include delivery of meals to the elderly and handicapped, increasing the number of care-giver buses, and giving households with disabled persons a monthly payment of NT$5,000. This latter payment would on the one hand reduce the financial burden on families caring for disabled persons, and also provide some solace to the women of such families (especially daughters-in-law) who have long taken the whole burden of caring for disabled family members.
Uneven playing field
Local governments have their hearts in the right place. Moreover, foreign countries have long been providing such welfare as birth, preschool education, education, and caregiver subsidies. However, warns David Lin, deputy director of the Manpower Planning Department of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, "Our per capita income is only US$12,000. This is far behind the average income of about US$20-30,000 in the developed countries. We must consider carefully whether we have the ability to do everything they do."
The Executive Yuan must consider the overall situation, and cannot, like county executives, simply dole out cash at will. The central government cannot prevent local elected officials from giving out subsidies within their jurisdiction (so long as their county assemblies do not block them), but it is not obliged to finance these programs either. As a result, each local government pursues its own welfare system, a situation which is giving rise to problems.
The most frustrating fact is that there's a great difference in wealth between various cities and counties. While Taipei City has an average of over NT$10,000 per citizen for social welfare, Taipei County has only NT$2,000. Nantou County, one of the poorest, can only look on wide-eyed as other counties provide various subsidies.
As Nantou's Chen Chun-li laments, "There are many grades of citizenship in the country, and we in Nantou are always at the very bottom."
Liu Pang-fu, director of the Department of Social Affairs of the Ministry of the Interior, which is nominally the highest authority for social welfare in Taiwan, feels heavy-hearted as he watches cities and counties coming up with various amazing ideas for handouts.
Liu says that there are many problems with a social welfare model based on handing out money. It is always easy to start giving away money, but very difficult to take it back later. If there's not enough money to go around and it is necessary to tighten belts, people will feel a much greater sense of having lost something than if they had never received the money in the first place.
In other words, with each locality making its own policies and competing to come up with new welfare programs, they are making a mess of the central government's welfare blueprint. The relative weight given to various programs as well as the speed of their implementation are now out of control. Liu says frankly that part of the reason for the hasty decisions to issue the elderly farmers' subsidy and the citizens' annuity was to preempt a wave of complaints from citizens who wonder, "How come there's no money for me?"
The weakest of the weak?
In a system based on issuing cash subsidies, not only are there regional differences between the localities, but there are great differences in the way various disadvantaged groups are treated.
Take for example the social welfare budget of the central government. Cheng Long-shui, a blind legislator from the New Party who has always been especially concerned about social welfare issues, notes that social welfare resources in Taiwan are seriously over-concentrated on certain groups, while others miss out.
Look at the central government's budgets for the second half of 1999 and for all of 2000 (a total of 18 months). Cheng begins his analysis of these budgets by pointing out that there are two major types of programs that fall under social welfare. One is social insurance, which includes government contributions to national health insurance and insurance for civil servants, workers, and farmers. Social insurance is one major pillar in the construction of a modern welfare state. Though the NT$19 billion-plus appropriated for this item constitutes more than half of the total social welfare budget for the next 18 months, this item is relatively uncontrover-sial because the rates of contributions and payments are fixed and there is little room for fiddling with this figure.
The situation is very different with welfare services, which accounts for one-third of the social welfare budget. Those covered by such services include the elderly, women, children, and the handicapped. This money has become the main battlefield over which disadvantaged groups are fighting.
Cheng Long-shui points out that of the NT$13 billion under welfare services, the Vocational Assistance Commission for Retired Servicemen, which takes care of elderly veterans, takes more than NT$4 billion. Meanwhile, the Council of Agriculture, which issues the elderly farmers' subsidy, gets NT$4.6 billion. "Old veterans and farmers account for only about 5.6% of the total population, but take more than two-thirds of the welfare services budget," says Cheng. The amount of social welfare enjoyed by old veterans is more than 95 times as much as an ordinary senior citizen in Taiwan. After means testing for the farmers' subsidy was eliminated, expenditures on this item instantly increased by over NT$3.6 billion.
Too good to be true?
Cheng concludes that because the budget goes disproportionately to old veterans and old farmers, other disadvantaged groups such as children, youth, women, and the handicapped are seriously squeezed out. For example, in the next fiscal year, the budget for social services for disadvantaged groups other than the elderly will be 30% lower than last fiscal year. The hardest hit group will be women, who will lose more than NT$500 million.
Tai Wen-liang, director of the Hsinchu County Association for the Handicapped, who once organized a protest at the Ministry of the Interior which involved more than 70 advocacy groups for disabled people from all over Taiwan, asks: "After all, who needs these resources the most? What criteria are there for distributing the money? Why can't we get a reasonable explanation?"
As an example of the problems with current policy, Tai explains the background to the protest he organized. In 1995 the Ministry of the Interior announced the beginning of "living assistance for handicapped persons in middle- and low-income households." At first, says Tai, "no one believed that something this good could exist." But when people began discovering that others were collecting the subsidy, everyone rushed to apply. In the second year, there was a budget shortfall. The subsidies became erratic, sometimes coming only once every few months.
Tai says that in order to control expenditures, the government not only strictly reviews applicants, but has continually raised the bar for eligibility. For example, in order to remain eligible, now a family cannot have more than NT$800,000 in fixed-term deposit accounts, nor property valued at more than NT$5 million, thus disqualifying over 10,000 disabled people. This is what sparked the protest.
"We see other people taking big chunks of the pie, and all we handicapped people want is a few crumbs, but even this is begrudged to us," says Tai.
Wang Shun-ming, an associate professor in the Department of Social Welfare at Chinese Culture University, who lives in Taipei and is himself disabled, says that as a "first-class citizen" in Taipei, he doesn't need to undergo any asset investigation before getting assistance. But he would rather that the government spent its money in more practical ways.
Wang notes that of the 570,000 handicapped people in Taiwan, the vast majority have not completed compulsory schooling (i.e. they have at most graduated from middle school), and the largest group is in their 30s. What they need most of all is investment in education and job training, in order to prevent them from suffering a "secondary handicap" as they age and their bodily functions deteriorate.
But there has never been any upgrading of these services. For example, amendments to the handicapped protection law passed in April of 1997 stipulate that a handicapped rehabilitation center is to be established within three years of the passage of the law. The Ministry of the Interior originally budgeted NT$690 million for the next fiscal year for planning and construction. But because the overall social welfare budget is already too large, this has been squeezed out. Who takes the time to look into this kind of procrastination?
Weakers of the world unite!
Wang states that the purpose of social welfare is to help the disadvantaged. Besides providing them basic economic security, it should also help them achieve integration and acceptance into society. Even more important is that disadvantaged people be able to stand on their own, be active and positive, and not be dependent on welfare in the long run.
Judging from this perspective, Taiwan's welfare policies are clearly not up to snuff.
"The basic idea of welfare measures is to reduce the gap between rich and poor and to encourage social stability and integration. But with everyone fighting over the money, it has divided the central government against local governments, rich counties against poor counties, and various disadvantaged groups against one another," says Wang. In fact, everyone now gets more than they had in the past. It's just that people tend to feel others get even more, and this feeling of "relative deprivation" is the source of much ill will.
Another perspective is the idea that "to teach a man to fish is better than to give him a fish." Wang notes, "Studies done abroad show that for every dollar invested in the education of children who suffer from polio, the state gets a return of ten dollars." But it's not likely that this kind of logic will carry much weight in Taiwan. The problem is not with the money, but rather: Who wants to wait that long for the investment to show results?
There are many examples that reflect this mindset. Hsinchu County's Fan Kuo-chuan readily admits that the county government leans toward cash payments-"a supply-style" welfare services model-because this is the most simple and shows results the fastest.
Fan continues, "If we wanted to change to a 'need-based' welfare system, we would first have to find out who the most needy are. Which families suffer domestic violence? Which have psychologically-ill family members? What kind of help does each disabled individual require? To find the answers would require a great deal of manpower and a tight-knit community network. We would have to go back to square one."
Fan says that real social welfare services such as family-violence intervention or sex-crime prevention are classic cases of policies that require a great deal of effort but show little immediate or widely-noticeable return. "You can't go around waving a banner showing these off as political accomplishments, and you can't sweep up tens of thousands of votes with such policies. No wonder those in government don't devote much attention to these areas!" He can only hope that once Hsinchu County escapes from the budgetary burden of its subsidies for the elderly, it can begin planning to move in this direction as quickly as possible.
Giving away money is easy
The key problem with Taiwan's current social welfare system is the fact that "giving away money is easy, doing something is difficult." Since the passage of the youth welfare law in 1989, over the last decade no less than 10 social welfare laws or sets of amendments have been passed. These have included the child welfare law, the handicapped protection law, and the elderly welfare law. But how effective has implementation been? What difficulties have been met? No one seems to be following up on such questions.
Take for example the sexual assault prevention law, which went into effect last year. In Nantou County, Tseng Yao-ching of the Social Welfare Department says that there were 40 cases of sexual assault handled by her department last year. Accompanying the victims to hospital, taking statements, and testifying in court placed a heavy burden on her staff of five, who are also responsible for home care and elderly protection. What's more, she expects that the "domestic violence prevention law" which went into effect in June will also become their responsibility.
"Since 1982, more than 60 new missions have been assigned to our office, but we have not gotten a single new staff member. We are expected to look after a population of more than 500,000 spread out across 13 townships and rural districts in the mountains. And one district alone, Jen'ai Rural Township, is larger than Chiayi City!" moans Tseng. The severe shortage of manpower means that social services are superficial at best. (Fortunately, after much struggle, it looks like Nantou will get six additional social workers next year.)
Liu Pang-fu of the Ministry of the Interior, who knows very well what the main problems are, says that social work is "labor-intensive," and social workers are the core providers. However, government personnel laws strictly limit hiring, and it is far more difficult to get people than money. For example, Taipei City can afford to pay all kinds of subsidies, but it cannot get additional quotas for hiring new social workers. This has led to tragedies such as the recent series of murders at a nursing home.
Bottoms up to a better system
"In other countries social work is done through 'case management.' In the US for example, there are between 11 and 12 social workers for each 10,000 people. In Taiwan the figure is only 1.2, or one-tenth that of the States." Liu Pang-fu explains that the government's staffing criteria are outdated and inflexible. What's more, the government has been trying to downsize the civil service, so it is even more difficult to try to expand some personnel quotas. Right now we can only hope for the earliest possible passage of amendments to the laws governing local administration and personnel hiring, which are the only way to get to the root of the problem.
Wang Shun-ming feels that Taiwan's problems are so complex and deep-rooted that they need more than money. He hopes that once everyone gets some sort of entitlement and satisfies their long-repressed desire to get something, their attention can then turn from the question of "who gets what" to considerations of a more profound nature.
"People have to stop simply trying to get more for themselves, and give up the myth that social welfare is some kind of gift that comes down from above as benevolent government policy. Citizens need to reflect on the problems right around them and get organized collectively from the bottom up. Only then will people be willing to give real care and support to the disadvantaged, and to encourage the government to produce an even better social welfare blueprint."
To reach this point, politicians will have to become more socially conscious, bureaucrats will have to accept more responsibility, and most importantly, citizens will have to wake up and become aware.
p.92
"I want a pension!" "Give me my subsidy!" In 1994 senior citizens staged a protest at the Legislative Yuan demanding subsidies to the elderly, an event which marked the beginning of the social welfare subsidy battle. (photo by Diago Chiu)
p.94
Helping the disadvantaged takes more than money, it also takes heart, so the human element is even more important. The photo above shows volunteers from the Nantou Charitable Association cleaning house for "Old Yu." At right is Mr. Yu, a veteran now in his 70s.
p.97
After means testing was recently abolished, all of Taiwan's elderly farmers became eligible for a subsidy. To extend elderly benefits to other groups, the government will soon begin issuing a "citizens' annuity."
p.98
Social Welfare in Selected Cities and Counties of Taiwan for Fiscal Year 1999
City or county social welfare budget (x NT$100 million)
Percentage of local government budget devoted to social welfare
Taipei City 284.4 16.7%
Kaohsiung City 66.0 9.6%
Taipei County 71.7 11.59%
Ilan County 9.9 8.6%
Taichung County 35.5 11.9%
Social welfare budget per capita (NT$)
Taipei City 10773
Kaohsiung City 4511
Taipei County 2071
Ilan County 2126
Taichung County 2416
Source: Lin Wan-yiGraphic by Lee Su-ling
p.99
The handicapped rehabilitation center in Puli was completed in 1997, but it has not been able to open because of a lack of operating funds. Right now it only offers a couple of computer classes for the handicapped.
p.100
New laws have been passed to try to stop child and youth prostitution and other sex crimes. But have they cut down on the number of young prostitutes? Can girls who want to rebuild their lives find a safe haven and schooling? Follow-up investigation is urgently needed. The photo shows a street play put on by a foundation which aims to rescue youth prostitutes. (photo by Diago Chiu)
p.102
"Will today's welfare be tomorrow's monster?" Serious consideration must be given to preventing today's easy promises of handouts from becoming a drain on the treasury, a drag on the economy, and a burden on future generations. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)
After means testing was recently abolished, all of Taiwan's elderly farmers became eligible for a subsidy. To extend elderly benefits to other groups, the government will soon begin issuing a "citizens' annuity.".
The handicapped rehabilitation center in Puli was completed in 1997, but it has not been able to open because of a lack of operating funds. Right now it only offers a couple of computer classes for the handicapped.
