National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums would not need to be adjusted next year if the minimum wage, salaries and government funding increase as expected, Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said yesterday.
Shih made the remark after the NHI Committee on Wednesday capped NHI spending next year at about NT$1.04 trillion (US$32.72 billion), the first time that the amount has exceeded NT$1 trillion.
The budget was recalculated based on the committee’s consensus that the collective NHI expenditure — by hospitals, Western medicine clinics, dental clinics and traditional Chinese medicine — would grow at a maximum 5.5 percent annually next year.
Photo: Taipei Times
The NHI budget would be NT$1.0434 trillion next year, NT$55 billion higher than this year, Shih told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei.
Asked if the committee’s decision would trigger a premium rate hike, Shih said the ministry has assessed that NHI premium revenue could rise if the minimum wage, salaries across all sectors and government funding increase as expected.
With the supplementary premium revenue and an additional NT$60 billion allocated by the government to shore up the NHI system next year, it would have a reserve fund by the end of next year that could sustain the system for 2.3 months based on the wage-rise and funding forecasts, he said.
“If that is the case, there would be no need to increase health insurance premiums next year,” he said.
Reporters asked Shih about criticisms that the committee meeting has become little more than a rubber stamp, with members settling on the percentage of growth in NHI spending ahead of time, as well as calls for the meetings to be livestreamed to avoid questions about their legitimacy.
Shih said that negotiations before the meetings are necessary, as efficiency would be greatly compromised if everything were decided on the day.
Every meeting is convened according to administrative procedures, he said.
The agenda is made public seven days ahead of the meetings and all statements made at the sessions are disclosed to the public within 10 days, he said, adding that audio and video files of the meetings are preserved.
The ministry would discuss with members of the NHI committee whether the meetings should be broadcast live, he added.
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