The government would not increase National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums next year, as the system is expected to have sufficient reserves, Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday.
Under the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), the minimum reserve level is set at the equivalent of one month of expenditures to ensure system stability.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare expects the NHI’s reserves to reach about 2.8 months of expenditures by the end of the year, Shih told reporters at a news conference in Taipei.
Photo: Taipei Times
Even if next year’s budget is calculated using the higher projected growth rate of 5.5 percent, the reserves are still expected to remain close to two months, he said.
Earlier this year, the ministry projected budget growth of between 2.9 and 5.5 percent for next year.
At the high end, spending could approach NT$1 trillion (US$32.9 billion), potentially putting upward pressure on premiums.
The NHI budget for next year is projected to increase by nearly NT$60 billion compared with this year, providing more resources for healthcare services, Shih said.
In addition to subsidies for rare disease treatments and new cancer drugs, the budget would focus on nurse retention and pediatric care, he said.
An additional NT$5.5 billion would be allocated for nursing wages and related expenses, with the aim to invest NT$10 billion over four years to improve nurses’ pay and working conditions.
The ministry hopes to encourage staff to return to hospitals, and boost capacity for acute and inpatient care, Shih said.
Meanwhile, NT$24.9 billion would be allocated for pediatric care, including compensation for pediatricians caring for children aged six or younger, and raising NHI payments for acute and critical pediatric care, he said.
Representatives of hospitals, small clinics, traditional Chinese medicine clinics, dentists and dialysis clinics on Wednesday agreed to set the NHI’s global budget at NT$928.6 billion.
In a rare show of consensus, the representatives also agreed on the distribution of NHI funding with little argument, a first for the ministry-hosted conference since the system started in 2002.
Deadlocks that plagued previous conferences usually stemmed from disagreements over resource distribution among care providers, a healthcare professional said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The support of the healthcare consumers’ representatives for the budget “marked a milestone” for the NHI, they said.
Shih and NHI Administration Director-General Chen Lian-yu (陳亮妤) should be credited with helping the panel navigate 12 hours of difficult discussions, they added.
“Understanding that medical expenditures are an investment and not a cost created the condition for a successful outcome at the conference,” Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives director Hung Tzu-jen (洪子仁) said.
Boosting the government’s healthcare spending improves a nation’s health indicators and average life expectancy, he said, adding that Taiwan’s health budget should match that of Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
Taiwan should spend the increased NHI budget on improving nurse-to-patient ratios and healthcare worker incomes to boost retention, he said.
The increased allocation should also be used to facilitate the integration of new drugs and technology in hospitals and clinics to reduce the medical-related economic burden on Taiwanese, Hung said.
Strengthening preventive medicine and the capabilities of smaller clinics would lead to long-term savings for the NHI fund, he said.
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