Reported by Chen Yu-Hsin from Taipei
In order to help patients with chronic diseases to improve compliance, the NHIA has implemented a policy which exempts holders of repeat prescriptions for chronic diseases (RPCD) from drug co-payment since the fourth year of its implementation. However, this policy has been criticised for leading to drug waste. Based on the principle of fairness, the NHIA proposed to scrap the aforementioned exemption of co-payment. The proposal was submitted to the NHI Board for discussion in January. After months of negotiation, the NHI Board made a decision to reject the NHIA’s proposal.
According to the NHIA’s data, there are about 5.96 million patients on RPCDs. Most of them are patients with the so-called “3-high” conditions. In fact, one patient may have various RPCDs for different conditions. The NHIA’s data shows that 40 million RPCDs are issued every year.
Lin Shu-Fan of the NHIA expressed that the introduction of the policy of free drug co-payment on RPCDs costs the NHI about NT$4.5 billion a year. The NHIA, hence, came up with a proposal to scrap the exemption based on the consideration of fairness.
The NHIA submitted the proposal to the NHI Board for discussion in January. The NHI Board finally made a conclusion on May 25th. Some Board members supported the proposal and some opposed it. Those who were against the proposal reckoned that the co-payment would affect patient’s compliance. Therefore, the NHI Board made a conclusion to keep the current practice, and suggested that the NHIA should formulate a control measure, such as a strengthened cloud-based mediation record system, for containing the waste of drugs.
Lin Shu-Fan expressed that the NHIA will continue collecting supporting evidence and pressing for the proposal.
【2018-05-26/ United Daily News】
