The National Health Insurance (NHI) budget for this year would be raised by a record-high 5.5 percent to NT$928.62 billion (US$28.19 billion), the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday.
The ministry last year proposed an NHI overall budget growth rate ranging from 3.521 to 5.5 percent for this year, as required by the National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法), it said.
The higher growth rate of 5.5 percent has been adopted, and the premium rate would not be changed, as the NHI Committee last month said that the NHI reserve fund would be able to cover the expenditure, even at the higher rate, it said.
Photo: Taipei Times
That would increase the budget by NT$48.41 billion to NT$928.62 billion from NT$880.22 billion, the biggest increase on record, the ministry said.
The ministry’s Department of Social Insurance in a news release said that the budget was decided based on the government’s policies, as well as proposals by healthcare service providers and NHI payers to ensure sufficient medical service capacity and enhance holistic healthcare.
Specifically, the dental budget was increased by 4.679 percent to NT$54.80 billion, while the budget for traditional Chinese medicine was raised by 5.274 percent to NT$34.19 billion, it said.
The budget for hemodialysis services was increased by 3 percent to NT$47.38 billion, with NT$24.69 billion for hospitals and NT$22.69 billion for primary healthcare clinics.
The budgets for hospitals and primary healthcare clinics were raised by 5.5 percent to NT$643.71 billion and NT$175.04 billion respectively, with the budget for other expenses increased by NT$1.56 billion to NT$20.88 billion.
The department said five points were considered in the approval of the budgets for hospitals and clinics.
First, NT$8.10 billion was budgeted for new medical technology, modified reimbursements for medicines and special materials, and temporary payments to enhance people’s right to medicines and accelerate the listing of new drugs under the NHI system.
Second, the budget for rare disease or hemophilia medicines and special materials totaled NT$18.03 billion to ensure the rights of patients with those conditions.
Third, a budget of NT$3.92 billion would be allocated to National Health Insurance Administration’s programs that aim to improve medical services in underserved areas.
Fourth, the budget for the reimbursement for Long Acting Injectable Antipsychotic would be continued with an additional NT$3.11 billion to bolster mental health services.
Fifth, NT$9.38 billion would be budgeted for home healthcare, home-based acute care, midwife clinics, community mental rehabilitation services and the transition of patients to long-term care settings.
The NHI system is financially stable, as the estimated reserve fund would remain above the total NHI reimbursement amount for a month by the end of the year, the department said.
The budget of NT$11.1 billion for public health and preventive healthcare would be removed from the NHI program and subsidized instead by the ministry’s NT$33.56 billion budget, it added.
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