The National Health Insurance (NHI) rate would remain at 5.17 percent next year after the government secured additional funding for the state-run health insurance system, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) said yesterday.
“The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics is to pump NT$24 billion [US$770.27 million] into the NHI system,” NHIA Director-General Lee Po-chang (李伯璋) told reporters at a news conference.
“An adjustment to the basic wage would increase NHI revenue by NT$5.6 billion,” he said.
“Following careful calculation, we found that the additional funding would lead to a health insurance security reserve next year that would sustain the system for more than a month, so health insurance rates would remain unchanged,” Lee said.
Despite the government freezing the rate hike, co-payments for some medical services would be adjusted to ensure the sustainability of the NHI, he said.
“This would help reduce unnecessary medical expenses and allow cancer patients and others who need new medication to be covered by the NHI,” he said.
Co-payments for emergency room services, as well as medication, tests and outpatient exams are expected to rise, Lee said.
“We hope to implement the new policy as soon as possible to mitigate waste of medical resources,” he said.
“When the policy takes effect would depend on the COVID-19 situation,” he said, adding that the government would continue to offer medical subsidies for people who are economically disadvantaged.
Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) last month said that co-payments would rise this year or at the start of next year.
The ministry originally planned to begin increasing co-payments for several medical services on May 15, but then-minister of health and welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) on May 10 announced that the planned increases would be postponed, citing the increase in workload for healthcare providers and the financial burden on patients.
The Executive Yuan following a meeting on Sept. 21 approved a budget increase of 1.307 percent to 4.5 percent for the NHI.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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