Pharmaceutical News
MOHW contemplates increasing NHI premium
2020/09/20

The NHI safety reserve is running low, and will soon go below the threshold of 1.5 months of expenses.  A premium hike seems inevitable. Dr Chen Shih-Chung, MOHW Minister, said on the 12th that a premium hike is a possible solution; however, at present, the MOHW’s first priority is to expedite the domestic R&D of COVID-19 vaccines and to secure the procurement of vaccines from abroad, said Dr Chen.

The NHIA held a ceremony to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the NHI.  Su Tseng-Chang, the Premier of the Executive Yuan, and Dr Chen Shih-Chung, the MOHW Minister, both made a speech in the ceremony.

Dr Chen admitted that the NHI premium rate is likely to be adjusted at the end of this year due to the financial strain.  The NHIA estimated that, by the end of this year, the NHI safety reserve will not be enough to cover the expenses for 1.5 months.  Yet, Dr Chen pointed out that it is too early to discuss the premium rate while the expenditure for next year is still under negotiation.

It is understood that the Executive Yuan prefers adjusting the co-payment for drugs to imposing a premium hike.  The Executive Yuan hinted that the co-payment exemption granted to repeated prescriptions for chronic diseases may be scrapped. The NHI Board will discuss this issue in its next meeting.

Dr Chen said in an interview in May after being retained in the Cabinet for the post of MOHW Minister that his major task for the 2nd term is to adjust the premium rate and the drug co-payment based on a fairer approach, for example, imposing a higher co-payment rate on heavy NHI users.

Dr Chen said the NHI finance is not the most urgent issue.  For now, securing the supply of COVID-19 vaccines is the government’s top priority.  The MOHW is negotiating with the COVAX, a global platform for the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, hoping to conclude a deal.

Dr Chen rebutted the criticism of joining the COVAX too late.  He said that the platform does not work on a “first-in-first-served” basis.  It will fairly distribute the vaccines among all participants.

Dr Chen also expressed that there is not yet a specific delivery date of vaccines, as all candidate products are still in trial phases.  “No one in the industry is sure when an effective vaccine will be available,” said Dr Chen.

【2020-09-15 / United Daily】