Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Committee (NHIC) completed negotiations on the 2027 National Health Insurance (NHI) global budget on September 23. The budget was set at NT$1.043447 trillion, representing growth of 5.5% and marking the first time that the NHI global budget has exceeded NT$1 trillion. The figure corresponds to the upper limit approved by the Executive Yuan.

Consensus was reached on the budgets for hospital services, primary care, dental services, traditional Chinese medicine services, and other budget items. This marks the third consecutive year in which the global budget has been set at the upper end of the approved growth range.

Assuming that the current premium rate of 5.17% remains unchanged, the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) projects that the safety reserve will stand at approximately NT$81.9 billion by the end of 2027, equivalent to 1.01 months of insurance benefit expenditures. Although this remains within the statutory range of one to three months, it is only 0.01 months above the statutory minimum.

NHIC Executive Secretary Chou Shu-wan said that, based on conservative estimates, the premium rate may remain unchanged in 2027, while the increase in the minimum wage is also expected to boost premium revenues. The actual premium rate will be reviewed and finalized in November.

The global budget also includes an additional NT$10.344 billion for new medical technologies, changes to reimbursement criteria for drugs and special medical materials, and temporary reimbursement mechanisms. It continues to allocate NT$23.4833 billion for drugs used to treat rare diseases and hemophilia, while an additional NT$5.7963 billion has been allocated to improve nurses’ pay.

The preliminary results of the global budget negotiations will be confirmed at the NHIC meeting in October before being submitted to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for approval in accordance with statutory procedures.

【2026-09-23/CNA】