Premier Su Tseng-chang made it clear yesterday that national health insurance (NHI) premiums will not be hiked in the near future. He cited the media reports for a premium raise as "completely wrong."

The premier made the statement at the weekly Cabinet meeting in an obvious move to ease anger from the public and the Consumers' Foundation (CF) said yesterday that protest a premium hike now is unfair before the government makes sincere efforts to plug the loopholes plaguing the NHI system.

Cabinet spokesman Cheng Wen-tsan said Premier Su made the policy announcement and rebuked press reports following a report on the "sound social security system" by Cabinet Minister Lin Wan-yi.

Su acknowledged the financial difficulties faced by the NHI program. But he stressed that any changes in the NHI premium will be implemented only after a careful study by the NHI Supervisory Committee.

He instructed the committee, Minister Lin, the Department of Health, and the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI), to organize a task force to conduct a thorough diagnosis of the popular NHI program and come up with the best solutions.

Premier Su also stressed that the government should let the people know what it has done in the fields of upgrading the quality of medical services, solving the "murky" pharmaceutical price problem, and soliciting public participation in the mechanism of setting the premium rates. Spokesman Cheng said the premier wants first a thorough review of all NHI expenditures before making any proposals concerning the premiums.

The NHI system has been threatened with widening financial deficits. But the public, lawmakers, and the consumers groups oppose any immediate hike of the insurance premiums before they see any significant results from the government's efforts to plug the loopholes.

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The China Post staff

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