A news report published in the Liberty Times on June 30 with the title of “Nine concerns: Do FEPZs result in profit or deficit?” mistakenly states that international medical services have limited health insurance resources. The MOHW hereby clarifies as follows: 
 
The international medical institutions in the Free Economic Pilot Zones (FEPZs) are fully excluded from the health insurance scheme and must be governed by the Medical Care Act. Only one or two international medical institutions will be allowed in the FEPZs during the initial stage. This number constitutes an extremely insignificant proportion of the medical institutions nationwide. Moreover, the charging standards for their self-pay medical services should be determined by the competent authority at the municipality/city/county level. These institutions are prohibited from setting rates for their medical services without permission. 
 
At present, the beds covered by health insurance at each public medical center, regional hospital, or local hospital should make up at least 75% of all beds provided by the same hospital, while the beds covered by health insurance at each private hospital should constitute at least 60% of all beds. Patients using hospital beds not covered by health insurance are required to pay the price difference between self-pay wards and insurance-covered wards. Patients receiving international medical services currently use hospital beds not covered by health insurance (in 2013, the actual number of inpatients seeking international medical services was 4,293, accounting for merely 0.1% of the 3,133,000 inpatients using health insurance nationwide). The majority of these patients undergo health examinations, cosmetic surgeries, or elective surgeries. These medical services do not involve the existing medical resources. 
 
Hospitals wishing to develop international medical services must apply for the permission to increase hospital beds designated for international medical services pursuant to Article 11 of the Regulations Governing the Permission for Establishment or Expansion of Hospitals. The number of such beds should not exceed one tenth of the number of acute care beds. Moreover, there should be a significant distinction between hospital beds used for international medical services and those not used for international medical services. The former should be provided as an expansion and should not affect the existing number of hospital beds covered by health insurance and health insurance resources. 
 
In addition, the MOHW along with the National Immigration Agency under the Ministry of the Interior, the Tourism Bureau, local public health bureaus, and relevant experts started to periodically supervise and inspect the international medical services in June 2013. If any serious conditions such as violations of applicable laws and regulations and unlawful conduct are found, the permission granted will be revoked. Thus, there is no lack of management mechanisms for international medical services as stated in the news report.