《TAIPEI TIMES》 NHI premium not rising next year: minister

By Lin Hui-chin and Esme Yeh / Staff reporter, with staff writer

National Health Insurance （NHI） premiums would not be raised next year, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan （邱泰源） said yesterday, adding that insurance payouts for healthcare workers would be “satisfactory to everyone.”

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“I am confident that the point value would be satisfactory to everyone within one year,” Chiu said at the 23rd International Conference on Emergency Medicine in Taipei.

While total NHI expenses are anticipated to surpass NT$900 billion （US$27.8 billion）, NHI premiums should remain, as the reserve fund could last for 1.01 months by the end of next year, higher than the minimum one month required by law even with a conservative growth rate of 5.5 percent, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

Chiu on Monday in an interview with the Liberty Times （sister paper of the Taipei Times） said that the ministry would diversify financial sources to strengthen the NHI point value system, such as allocating the general budget to cover some NHI expenses, and perhaps raising the upper limit for supplemental insurance levies to NT$50 million per payment from NT$10 million.

There is more to put into practice than just guaranteeing a high point value, Chiu said.

Meanwhile, in a discussion among party caucuses on amendments to the NHI point value system, a health official said that the ministry prioritizes providing reasonable NHI payments, protecting healthcare workers’ incomes and stabilizing the point value system in line with the legislature.

However, the official also said that the budget would rise by NT$70.5 billion for a point value of NT$0.95 per point, or NT$115.5 billion for NT$1 per point, as the NHI payment system shifts from “expenditure cap” to “expenditure target” under the amendments.

Funding from the general budget would impose a great financial burden on the government and require planning by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics in accordance with the Budget Act （預算法） and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures （財政收支劃分法）, the ministry said.

In contrast, funding from NHI income could drain the reserve fund within next year and the NHI rate would have to be increased by the end of this year, it added.

The ministry said it would supplement income by expanding the premium fee base, and discussing the custody and utilization of the NHI fund in addition to the aforementioned measures.

A fund for new cancer drugs would be set up and the fund for public health welfare programs would be covered by the general budget instead of NHI, it said.

Meanwhile, the ministry is to implement a hierarchy of healthcare, ensure adequate funding for remote hospitals, and discourage waste of resources and repetitive prescription to improve the efficiency of resources, the ministry added.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES