Taiwan‘s National Health Insurance Faces Reform Pause Amidst Budgetโฃ Growth
Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI) program experienced meaningful financial growth in 2024, reaching an 8% increase when including NT$18 billion in public โfunds, according to data released during Taiwan Medical Weekโ in November. The total โNHI budget is projected to surpassโค NT$1โฃ trillion in 2025 with the inclusion of these public funds. This growth โfollows a historical high of 5.5% in 2024.
President Lai Ching-te recently outlined the NHI’s future priorities during a parliamentary debate,focusing โon three key areas: improving the quality โฃof medical care,attracting and retaining medical professionals through salary increases,and enhancing the versatility of โmedical reimbursements.
Though, planned reforms โtoโ the NHI supplementary โpremium rates have been temporarily halted due to โคpublic opposition. The proposed changes aimed to address potential loopholes and broaden โthe income base for contributions. Currently, rental income, interest, โฃand stock dividends exceeding NT$20,000 โare subjectโข to a 2.11% supplementary premium. The Ministry of Health and Welfare considered calculating this income โคannually to preventโข individuals from avoiding payments by strategically โtiming financial settlements.
Furthermore, the proposed reforms included raising the incomeโฃ ceiling for the supplementary premiumโข from NT$10 million to NT$50 โขmillion. โฃThe Taipei Times reported that these changes, if implemented,โ would have impacted approximately 4.8โค million people and generated anโ additional NT$10-20โ billion in NHI revenue.
Theโค NHI operates as a social โคwelfare program, builtโ on the principle that โthose with greater financial resources contribute to supporting the healthcare needs of the disadvantaged. the current pause inโ reformsโ reflects โaโข sensitivity to public concerns surrounding the proposed changes to โคthe premium structure.
