The National Health Insurance (NHI) system might not survive the next decade if no premium increases are imposed in response to the nation’s aging population, former health minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said yesterday.
Yaung made the remarks at a ceremony held by the National Health Insurance Administration in Taipei to mark the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the health insurance program.
While giving the NHI program a score of 85 out of 100, Yaung said he cannot yet call the program a success, because it still requires financial reform to help it ride out Taiwan’s rapidly aging society and dwindling birth rate.
“The country’s population pyramid is moving toward an upside-down triangle, meaning we have a high percentage of elderly people, but not enough newborns,” Yaung said. “Given that Taiwanese tend to be short-sighted, I cannot see the NHI scheme making it through the next 10 years unless serious thought is given to the topic of raising the insurance premium.”
Yaung’s advice is in accord with opinions set forth in an advisory report published by the second-generation NHI program review team in October last year.
The report consisted of 36 suggestions for the NHI system, including a series of changes to its calculations for premiums and letting babies born to non-Taiwanese parents in the nation be covered by the NHI program upon birth, rather than after six months, as per current rules.
Yaung said it is a well-known fact that a large proportion of the NHI’s resources have been wasted on unnecessary treatment.
“Hence, the key to creating a sustainable public health insurance system is not to increase the program’s reimbursements for medications and medical therapies, but to raise premiums,” Yaung said.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) said the ministry has taken the advisory report’s opinions into consideration and plans to gather a group of specialists to exchange thoughts on the matter.
“We will absorb what is good and leave out what is not. Hopefully, this will help us draw up a more thorough revision of the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) within three years,” Chiang said.
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