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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS