An independent lawmaker yesterday charged that the prices for prescription drugs that many hospitals charge the Bureau of Na-tional Health Insurance (BNHI) are much higher than the prices at which the hospitals buy them from pharmaceutical companies.
Independent Legislator Sisy Chen (陳文茜) publicized a report to show the difference between the prices that hospitals report to the BNHI and the prices the hospitals pay pharmaceutical companies for the same drugs.
For example, according to the report Chang Gung Memorial Hospital bought a drug named Sinzac at the price of NT$2.40 per pill but reported to the BNHI it bought Sinzac at NT$41.50 per pill.
"The money that hospitals get through this scheme amounts to NT$20 billion per year," Chen alleged.
"The pharmaceutical companies would not make the price differences public because they don't want to lose their customers," Chen continued.
Chen demanded that the Department of Health must publicize the original prices at which pharmaceutical companies sell drugs to hospitals.
Individual hospitals decide the prices of specific drugs after taking existing market prices into account and after negotiations with the BNHI.
"The original drug prices should be exhibited on the Department of Health's Web site," Chen said.
"Hospitals should not be allowed to make money this way," she added.
Chen said the BNHI is unwilling to admit the pricing problem.
"Whenever lawmakers questioned BNHI officials about drug prices, they always replied that these must be kept secret," Chen said.
"I believe the drug-price problem is one factor contributing to the BNHI's massive deficit," Chen added.
Chen suggested that the BNHI should appoint members of its drug-price monitoring team only after the Legislature had approved the candidates.
Currently, the identities of the 15 members of the BNHI's drug-price monitoring team remain confidential.
"I cannot reveal who they are. If I expose their identities, they will be have to answer endless queries about drug prices," said Liu Chien-hsiang (劉見祥), the BNHI's deputy general manager, in a press conference yesterday.
He said all 15 the members are medical or pharmaceutical professionals.
In response to Chen's accusations, Liu said the BNHI has launched an investigation into drug prices in the domestic market.
"By the end of this year, we will complete the investigation. According to the results of the investigation, the BNHI will reduce the money it pays hospitals for drug purchases at the beginning of next year," Liu said.
"At this moment we cannot ascertain how much hospitals may be making from the alleged price differences," Liu said.
"But the lawmaker's allegations that the scam comprises NT$20 billion is certainly exaggerated," said Chen I-feng (
According to Chen I-feng, the BNHI's total expenditure on drugs last year was NT$84.7 billion.
Sheen Mao-ting (沈茂庭), a BNHI official, reported that the growth rate of the BNHI's annual expenditure on drugs has slipped from 1998's 12.92 percent to last year's 1.72 percent.
Sisy Chen also proposed yesterday that the government should cut the budget for the bonuses given to the BNHI's employees.
"Presently the BNHI has a cash-flow problem. If its employees want bonuses, let them get them from unpaid premiums," said Sisy Chen. Some three hundred thousand people -- 0.01 percent of the population -- owe the BNHI premiums.
Liu said Sisy Chen's proposal is very unfair to the BNHI's employees.
"We receive our bonuses according to the government's regulations. Why always target our bonuses?" Liu asked.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai