The National Health Insurance Administration of Taiwan has proposed to raise the limit on out-of-pocket expenses for hospitalisations under the National Health Insurance (NHI) from 1 January 2026.
According to the draft regulation issued by Taiwan’s ministry of health and welfare the limit would be raised from NT$6,000 to NT$57,000 for a single visit and NT$8,000 to NT$94,000 total per year.
A news report in Taipei Times said about 11,000 people are likely to be affected by the new proposed plan, which is set to increase NHI copayments by NT$60.93m ($2.02m).
In 2024, the cap on single-visit and cumulative annual visits rose by just NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 respectively, although this year’s more dramatic increase was calculated using the same formula.
NHI will, however, take care that patients with catastrophic illnesses or those from low-income sections of the society, entitled for subsidies from other agencies are not affected.
The new policy would apply to insured patients hospitalised for up to 30 days in acute care wards or 180 days in chronic care wards, covering only the medical expenses payable by patients under Article 47 of the National Health Insurance Act.
The draft regulation would have a 60-day notice period before taking effect on 1 January 2026.
The NHI health premiums will, however, not be raised in 2026. The system is forecast to retain sufficient reserves according to country’s health minister Shih Chung-liang. She was addressing a press conference recently.
Under the NHI Act the minimum reserve level is set at the equivalent of one month of expenditures to ensure system stability. The ministry of health and welfare now expects the NHI's reserves to reach about 2.8 months of expenditures by the end of the year.