Department of Health (DOH) officials yesterday dismissed a media report that said the agency blamed the nation’s aging population for the National Health Insurance (NHI) program’s huge financial deficit, saying that the increase in the number of elderly was just one of many factors.
Chu Tong-kuang (曲同光), a deputy convener of a DOH task force on insurance premiums, called a press conference at the Government Information Office to clarify the report in yesterday’s Chinese-language Liberty Times, (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
The report said that the DOH had attributed the cause of the soaring cost of NHI reimbursements to the increase in the nation’s elderly population, despite the fact that reimbursements have risen disproportionately over the years.
Citing statistics on NHI reimbursements for medical expenses, Chu said that the annual rate of growth in medical expenses had remained stable in recent years, lower than 5 percent, which is lower than the average of 6 percent in most advanced counties.
“The number of elderly people has increased by 38 percent over the past ten years, while medical expenses have risen 169 percent,” Chu said.
Regarding the causes of the surge in medical expenses, Chu said that other than the increase in the elderly population, there were increases in the number of people suffering major illnesses, such as cancer and kidney disease. Also, the introduction of new medicines and new medical devices had caused costs to sky rocket.
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