While the World Bank has recommended that, to discourage smoking, surcharges on tobacco products should be set at around two-thirds to four-fifth of the retail price, with the World Health Organization recommending a minimum of 70 percent, Taiwan’s tobacco surcharge is less than 50 percent of retail. Compared to the ranges  recommended by international bodies, there is a lot of room for improvement for Taiwan, which has prompted to advocacy to raise tobacco surcharges among lawmakers and civil society organizations.

Under current regulations, 50 percent of the tobacco surcharge collected is allocated towards the National Health Insurance’s (NHI) safety reserve and to subsidize NHI premiums for economically disadvantaged groups, with around 11 percent earmarked for cancer prevention and control, and 2.7 percent to orphan drugs. In other words, tobacco surcharges bring a wide variety of positive impacts for society. National Health Insurance Administration Deputy Director General Lee Cheng-hua in May said that an NT$20 increase in tobacco surcharges per pack of cigarette will go a long way in expediting access to new cancer drugs for patients.

Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Tsai Pi-ju said that she will be glad to see progress towards raising the tobacco surcharge, adding that the Ministry of Health and Welfare should provide clear policy directions on the use of the funds. Legislator Tsai said that lowering smoking rates will prevent the occurrence of diseases, leading to savings in health care expenditure, which can be reallocated towards improving access to new cancer drugs and orphan drugs.

“It usually takes two years for a new cancer drug to be included on the NHI fee schedule,” Formosa Cancer Foundation Vice President Tsai Li-chuan said, adding that the government should quicken the establishment of the “Taiwan multi-support Cancer Drug Fund” as a way to find alternative funding sources outside the NHI. Vice President Tsai also said that the additional funds raised by tobacco surcharges can also be redirected to funding new cancer drugs to ease the financial burden on patients and patients’ families as well as raising cancer survival rates.

[2022-6-28/Up Media]