"Anyemployerwho refuses to fund that insuranceforemployeeswouldincur a fineequal to1 to 3times the sum of workers' due insurancefees," the officialsaid.
"The Health InsuranceFund is funded by contributions from employees and the self-employed and there's no intention of increasing those contribution fees at the moment, nor have we any immediate plans to reintroduce prescription charges, " he said.
Some are now calling for the abolition of the agency and even the scrapping of the federal unemployment-insurance fund (if workers simply saved the 6.5% of gross wages that employers and employees now each contribute, that could give the newly jobless enough of a cushion to get through several months of unemployment).