Reported by Jiang Hui-jun

Cancer drugs are costly. According to National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) statistics, for every NT$2 spent on cancer drugs, more than NT$1 went to targeted drugs. Patients are nevertheless hoping to include more new drugs in NHI program. With the aim of expediting the payments for new drugs and controlling drug expenditures, NHIA launched a multidimensional bargaining system last month and specified that the inclusion of new drugs was not just about “haggling”. The newly launched system will consider the survival time of patients, discount offered by drug companies, the return of copayment, etc.

【2018-10-14/Apple Daily】