The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) published its key financial results. NHIA Medical Affairs Division Chief Lee Chun-fu said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of medical points being claimed by medical services providers have decreased. During the first quarter of 2020, the number of medical points being claimed were 184.91 billion points, falling 0.54 percent or more than 1 billion points compared to the same period a year ago, of which, drug prescriptions accounted for 52.52 billion, or 28.4 percent of total medical points claimed during the first quarter.

Division Chief Lee said that in the first quarter, dentistry and Western Medicine clinics led other departments in terms of the average value of medical points at NT$1.0069 and NT$1.0195 per point respectively. That is also the first time in 13 years that the value of medical points for the two departments exceeded NT$1 per point. However, Division Chief Lee noted that the current per-point values are estimates and that the final outcome for the first quarter will be decided in August. Still, in consideration of the impacts of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health and Welfare is mulling to change medical points valuation to a yearly basis but has not finalized its decision on the matter due to differing opinions voiced by different medical services providers. Western Medicine clinics are hoping to calculate the value of medical points based on first quarter estimates as the value is expected to tumble later in the year as the number of medical visits return to normal once the pandemic subsides.

The National Health Insurance (NHI) system in the first quarter recorded premium income of NT$160 billion against expenditure of NT$167.5 billion, ending in the red as with the past three years. The mounting expenditure was attributed to the inclusion of new drugs and medical devices under the NHI reimbursement and the significant number of beneficiaries who have chronic disease and catastrophic illnesses. In the first quarter, the NHI added 13 new drugs for reimbursement, leading to an estimated NT$4 million in additional expenditure, as well as adding 14 new medical devices for reimbursement, leading to an estimated NT$6 million in additional expenditure.

Further, the number of patients with catastrophic illnesses exceeded 900,000 for the first time in the first quarter and accounted for 29 percent of total NHI expenditure, up 1.4 percent from a year ago. During the first quarter, the number of chronic disease patients was tallied at 8.55 million, which is markedly lower compared to the 12 million a year ago, but chronic disease treatment costs rose 1.9 percent year-on-year, accounting for 49.8 percent of NHI expenditure,

[2020-06-14 / United Daily News]