National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums are not likely to rise next year, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said, after an announcement that the agency's draft budget for next year could increase by up to 5.5 percent annually.
As a top-end increase would leave the reserve fund insufficient to fill the gap in funding, fears have grown that NHI premiums would rise.
The baseline budget for next year for the NHI is projected to be NT$936.81 billion (US$31.3 billion), the Ministry of Health and Welfare said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
At the low end of the range of estimated growth, or a 2.942 percent rise, the budget would increase by NT$27.6 billion to NT$964.41 billion, with reserve funds enough for 1.31 months of expenditure, the ministry said.
At the high end of the estimate, or 5.5 percent, the budget would increase by NT$51.5 billion to NT$988.31 billion, with the reserve covering 0.96 months, it said.
The National Health Insurance Act (全民健康保險法) stipulates that the NHI reserve fund must cover at least one month of expenses.
The ministry is still uncertain whether additional funding would be required, as the budget is subject to variables and NHI finances remain in flux, Chiu said.
However, premium rates are not expected to rise, he added.
Experts from the medical industry recommend adopting the higher estimate to maintain financial resilience at hospitals and gradually raising premiums when necessary.
The government should also consider allocating NT$3 billion from the general budget to fill the gap, they said.
Next year's budget should be 5.5 percent larger to maintain the NHI system, said Taiwan College of Healthcare Executives director Hung Tzu-jen (洪子仁), who is vice superintendent of Shin Kong Hospital.
Setting individual budgets means that each hospital has to have the financial resilience to avoid the risk of reduced clinic hours or increased registration fees, while they have to have the long-term capacity to swiftly introduce new drugs and technology added to NHI coverage, Hung said.
The medical community says that premiums must be adjusted when necessary to sustain the NHI system and uphold the spirit of universal health coverage according to the reason it was designed 30 years ago, ie, to uphold individual responsibility and provide mutual aid, he said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hui-chin
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