The legislature’s Health Committee on Dec. 5 held a public hearing on the National Health Insurance (NHI), during which Taiwan Community Hospital Chairman Chu Yi-hung said that the government have long failed to allocate adequate funding for new drugs, as well as reconsider the delayed impacts from the introduction of new drugs. He said that the government must shoulder a greater share of the responsibility to patients and enable more funding for the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA). A larger share of the central government should also be used to fund health care expenditures to ease the pressure on NHI finances, Chairman Chu said.
Taiwan Medical Association Deputy Secretary General Lin Heng-li said that there continues to be a lack funding for new drugs and new health care technologies, and that compared to the targets listed by the NHIA, the actual progress in replacing older drugs with newer drugs that are more effective has been lagging. Deputy Secretary General Lin said that the government has also failed to shoulder 36 percent of the NHI’s expenditures and deficit as specified in the National Health Insurance Act, and that Taiwan has fallen behind Japan and Korea in terms of health care spending as a proportion of GDP.
In response, Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan remarked that his priorities include preparations for the implementation of revised copayment rules, adjusting the NHI premiums rates, and pushing through necessary legal amendments. Minister Hsueh said that after President Tsai Ing-wen has asked ministerial leaders with to explore having private health insurance products make up gaps in NHI coverage, the Ministry of Health and Welfare began talks with the Financial Supervisory Commission, however, due to the pandemic, discussions have been stalled and will take time to coordinate. Minister Hsueh said that private health insurance could aid the introduction of new drugs and health technologies, which will benefit a wide range of patients, not just those with cancer.
[2022-12-05/Liberty Times]
