To meet President William Lai’s campaign pledge to establish a Cancer Drug Fund (CDF), the Ministry of Health and Welfare has readied a NT$2.429 billion earmark in the 2024 National Health Insurance (NHI) global budget for conditional reimbursement of new drugs, while an injection of NT$6 billion from the general government budget is expected in 2025 to enable the decoupling of the CDF from NHI finances, scaling the CDF above NT$10 billion in three years' time.

During a forum discussing the sustainability of the CDF, National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) Director-General Shih Chung-liang on July 2 said that as the CDF is a special fund, it will require unprecedentedly different funding sources, such as an excise tax on alcoholic beverages. Regarding the possible tax on alcohol, Professor Han Hsing-wen of Tamkang University’s Department of Accounting estimated that nearly NT$16 billion could be generated, which will not only cover the CDF but also provide an additional NT$ 6 billion to improve NHI finances.

Regarding the conditional reimbursement of new drugs, NHIA Director-General Shih said that specifics will be announced before the end of 2024, noting that new drugs included in the scheme will undergo evaluation through the collection of real-world data for three years. If the new drugs prove to be safe and effective, they will be included on the NHI fee schedule, while those that are not will no longer be eligible for conditional reimbursement to make room for more promising candidate new drugs. NHIA Director-General Shih also promised to include the input of patient groups in the new drug evaluation process.

[2024-7-2/Central News Agency (CNA)]