Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it plans to raise the ceiling on co-payments for hospital stays covered by Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) program starting next year.
Under the proposed changes, the co-payment cap for a single hospital stay for a particular condition will be NT$57,000 (US$1,883), up from NT$51,000.
Meanwhile, accumulated co-payments for hospital stays over a year, regardless of how many times a patient is admitted or how long they stay in hospital, will be capped at NT$94,000, up from NT$86,000.
Chen Chen-hui (陳真慧), acting head of the ministry's Department of Social Insurance, said the new system is expected to affect 11,000 people and raise total NHI co-payments by NT$60.93 million.
The higher cap stems mainly from an increase in average income over the past year, Chen said.
The proposal will go through a 60-day public review before taking effect on Jan. 1, she added.
Under the National Health Insurance Act, hospital stay co-payments are adjusted annually to reflect the increase in per capita income.
Based on the latest data from the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, the one-time hospital stay cap equals 6 percent of average income, while the annual cap equals 10 percent.
