In September, the NHIA imposed the ceiling price mechanism on 8 types of special medical devices, hoping to reduce the public’s financial burden.  However, just after 2 months of the implementation of the new system, the prices of 531 items were increased.  Among them, 194 items went straight up to the ceiling prices.   The NHIA expressed today that, in the future, the public will be able to access and monitor the price adjustment records once the NHIA resolves some technical problems.

The NHIA’s statistics show that, based on 10,000 price records of the products in the 8 categories subject to the ceiling price mechanism, 19% moved downward, 5% moved upward, and the rest remained the same.  According to Huang Yu-Wen of the NHIA, 531 items had a price increase, including 194 items had their prices adjusted to the ceiling prices.

Huang Yu-Wen expressed that the ceiling prices are established based on the consensus reached by the NHIA and medical association.  Prices under the ceiling prices are considered acceptable.   The Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation revealed a huge price increase of a certain artificial hip joint.  The NHIA clarified that it was a data entry error.  The NHIA will automatically launch an investigation on products with huge price differences.

Regarding the price adjustment records, Huang Yu-Wen expressed that the NHIA is now designing a monitor system and will allow the public to access the data once the technical problems are resolved.

【2020-12-08 / China Times】