In the News

Premium rates unveiled for 2G-health insurance

• Publication Date：04/30/2010
• Source： United Daily News

Premium rates for the second-generation national health insurance plan are expected to fall between 2.57 percent and 3.06 percent, and many people can expect to pay less per month, Minister of Health Yaung Chih-liang said April 29.

Proposed premium rates were revealed for the first time at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Social Welfare, Health and Environment Committee, where the Department of Health presented 16 versions of the second-generation NHI.

Cheng Shou-hsia, director-general of the Bureau of National Health Insurance, said based on tax data from 2008, the bureau estimates that 60 percent of families earning under NT$750,000 (US$23,926) per year would make lower payments than at present, as would 40 percent of single-member households.

Yaung said as in the 2G-plan payments depend on income, there is a range of premium rates.

The DOH has set a preliminary upper annual income limit of NT$7.5 million and a lower limit of NT$120,000. Insurance payments are calculated by multiplying the household income by the premium rate, and the number of dependents is not a factor. A family earning NT$50,000 per month, for example, would pay NT$1,500 monthly.

If household earnings exceed NT$7.5 million per year by any amount, the monthly insurance fee would come to NT$18,750 per person. Families making less than NT$120,000 annually would pay NT$300 per person.

Yaung stressed that if the 2G-health insurance plan is passed into law, it will not require any major revisions for 20 years, but there are still many variables in the proposed versions that could affect the calculation of premium rates, including setting a bottom limit for the government’s share of insurance payments, and whether past deficits should be amortized annually. (THN)