A watchdog group yesterday accused several hospitals of cheating the National Health Insurance (NHI) system by limiting the number of hospital beds available, with the group calling National Taiwan University Hospital the biggest swindler.
Against the backdrop of government plans to increase health insurance premiums, the National Health Insurance Civic Surveillance Alliance said hospitals earn NT$10 billion (US$314.9 million) per year by charging patients extra for emergency hospital beds when such items should be covered by health insurance.
The National Health Insurance Act (全民健保法) requires the Department of Health (DOH) to demand that all hospitals, both public and private, reserve at least 65 percent and 50 percent of their beds respectively for people covered by NHI.
National Taiwan University Hospital — the nation’s biggest government-funded hospital — has only a 59.6 percent availability rate, the watchdog said.
National Taiwan University Hospital patients can opt to pay either the part not covered by the NHI or the entire amount — NT$700 to NT$8,000 — for a bed. Nevertheless, many people are still left without a bed, alliance spokeswoman Eva Teng (騰西華) said.
“The government only knows how to milk more money from the taxpayers, but doesn’t seem to care about the real culprits who are corrupting the system. It is useless to stabilize the Bureau of National Health Insurance’s finances if the quality of service remains shoddy,” she said.
Privately owned hospitals, such as Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital, Chi Mei Medical Center, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Linkou Branch and Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, although barely meeting the requirement, still charge patients between NT$800 and NT$6,000 for a bed.
Teng said the alliance has received many letters of complaint, saying it was nearly impossible to get a bed without personal connections or pressure from lawmakers.
She said the law also stipulates that hospitals failing to meet the requirement could be fined NT$20,000 to NT$30,000.
Dismissing the fine as a mere “slap on the wrist,” Teng urged the DOH to increase inspections as well as raise the requirements to 85 percent and 70 percent for public and private hospitals respectively.
In response, the DOH said it was open to all suggestions from the public and had already asked National Taiwan University Hospital to expand its availability of beds.
The hospital has agreed to make the changes, the DOH said.
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