Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) The reserve fund of Taiwan's universal national health insurance (NHI) system has reached its highest level since the system was launched in 1995, leading some lawmakers to question if insurance premiums should be lowered to reduce the burden of the insured.



The reserve fund had accumulated NT$200 billion (US$6.1 billion) as of the end of July since Jan. 1, 2013, when the second-generation NHI system took effect, said Chu Tung-kuang (曲同光), head of the Ministry of Health and Welfare's Department of Social Insurance, at a legislative hearing Monday.



The reserves are enough to cover four and a half months of spending by the health insurance system, said Chu, who attributed the record to a 4.91 percent insurance premium rate (on basic salary) and a 2 percent premium charged on supplement income.



Supplemental premiums were the main feature of the second-generation system. They increased revenues for the financially troubled system by subjecting non-salary income such as dividends, professional fees and interest income to health insurance premiums.



Chu stressed that the insurance premium mechanism must cater to the system's long-term stability.



When income exceeds spending, the surplus goes to the reserve fund, which is then used to balance NHI accounts when spending exceeds income, he said.



"It is a mechanism that links revenues and expenditures and is aimed at achieving a financial balance," Chu told lawmakers at the hearing.



On a proposal to lower the health insurance premium rates, he said the National Health Insurance Administration is working on it and will present a plan by the end of October to the National Health Insurance Committee, which reviews premium rates annually.



The committee will invite experts and actuaries to evaluate the proposed premium rate cut and compile their opinions for the health ministry's reference, Chu explained.



Noting that the National Health Insurance Committee decided not to adjust rates in 2013 and 2014, the panel's upcoming discussions on the issue, which are slated for November, will still focus on the goal of maintaining stability, Chu said.



If the committee eventually decides to adjust the rates, it will involve changes to both the regular insurance premium and supplemental insurance premium rates, he said.



Kuomintang lawmaker Su Ching-chuan (蘇清泉) proposed at the Legislative Yuan earlier Monday to reduce the supplemental premium rate to 1.5 percent, arguing that the 2 percent rate is too high as seen by the record-high reserves, according to an Apple Daily report.



In response, Health Minister Chiang Been-huang (蔣丙煌) said any decision to adjust premium rates should be mulled carefully because Taiwan's population is aging and could lead to a deficit in the NHI's finances by 2017, the report said.



(By Lung Pei-ning and Elizabeth Hsu)

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