National Health Insurance (NHI) premiums would not be raised next year, Minister of Health and Welfare Chiu Tai-yuan (邱泰源) said yesterday, adding that insurance payouts for healthcare workers would be “satisfactory to everyone.”
“I am confident that the point value would be satisfactory to everyone within one year,” Chiu said at the 23rd International Conference on Emergency Medicine in Taipei.
While total NHI expenses are anticipated to surpass NT$900 billion (US$27.8 billion), NHI premiums should remain, as the reserve fund could last for 1.01 months by the end of next year, higher than the minimum one month required by law even with a conservative growth rate of 5.5 percent, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Photo: Lin Chih-yi, Taipei Times
Chiu on Monday in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) said that the ministry would diversify financial sources to strengthen the NHI point value system, such as allocating the general budget to cover some NHI expenses, and perhaps raising the upper limit for supplemental insurance levies to NT$50 million per payment from NT$10 million.
There is more to put into practice than just guaranteeing a high point value, Chiu said.
Meanwhile, in a discussion among party caucuses on amendments to the NHI point value system, a health official said that the ministry prioritizes providing reasonable NHI payments, protecting healthcare workers’ incomes and stabilizing the point value system in line with the legislature.
However, the official also said that the budget would rise by NT$70.5 billion for a point value of NT$0.95 per point, or NT$115.5 billion for NT$1 per point, as the NHI payment system shifts from “expenditure cap” to “expenditure target” under the amendments.
Funding from the general budget would impose a great financial burden on the government and require planning by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics in accordance with the Budget Act (預算法) and the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法), the ministry said.
In contrast, funding from NHI income could drain the reserve fund within next year and the NHI rate would have to be increased by the end of this year, it added.
The ministry said it would supplement income by expanding the premium fee base, and discussing the custody and utilization of the NHI fund in addition to the aforementioned measures.
A fund for new cancer drugs would be set up and the fund for public health welfare programs would be covered by the general budget instead of NHI, it said.
Meanwhile, the ministry is to implement a hierarchy of healthcare, ensure adequate funding for remote hospitals, and discourage waste of resources and repetitive prescription to improve the efficiency of resources, the ministry added.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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