To strengthen pharmaceutical supply security and resilience, President Lai Ching-te announced during a meeting of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee that Taiwan will suspend its drug price survey mechanism for three years starting this year.
During the suspension period, the government will conduct a comprehensive review of Taiwan’s pharmaceutical supply system. Among the more than 14,000 medicines reimbursed under the National Health Insurance, around 1,700 commonly used products will be prioritized for classification and supply-capacity assessment to evaluate domestic production capability and self-sufficiency.
The current drug price survey mechanism has been implemented by the National Health Insurance Administration since 2013 under the Drug Expenditure Target (DET) system, which adjusts reimbursement prices when annual pharmaceutical expenditure exceeds budget targets. This year's adjustment rate reached a historic low, with 2,245 drugs seeing price reductions and 98 experiencing increases, resulting in a total drug cost reduction of NT$3.615 billion.
President Lai further stated that future savings generated through resumed price surveys should no longer return to the NHI global budget, but instead be directed toward supporting domestic generic drug manufacturing to improve pharmaceutical self-reliance.
Teng Hsi-hua, spokesperson for the Citizen Supervision Alliance on National Health Insurance, criticized the move, noting that drug price surveys are stipulated in the National Health Insurance Act, and suspending them for three years would therefore raise legal and regulatory concerns. She also pointed out that there is no direct connection between “reviewing the supply of medicines” and “halting drug price surveys.”
Teng further argued that any savings generated by the National Health Insurance system should be prioritized for reimbursement of new cancer drugs and medications for rare diseases, rather than being used to support industrial development.
By contrast, Hung Tzu-jen stated that the current drug price survey mechanism has long suppressed drug prices, resulting in some older and essential medicines being priced too low, which in turn affects the survival of the domestic pharmaceutical industry and the stability of supply. He believes that the three-year pause would help reduce price negotiation pressure on medical institutions and provide space for the domestic pharmaceutical sector to restructure and achieve more stable development.
[2025-03-06/China Times]
