Serious illnesses account for 27% of medical costs

A health official stressed the money was worth spending because a major purpose of the NHI program is to help compatriots suffering from grave ailments.

There were 783,121 people under the category of major illnesses or injuries in Taiwan in 2009, according to statistics released by the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) under the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday.

Although individuals with major ailments accounted for only 3 percent of the total population, their combined health care costs amounted to around NT$130 billion, or 26.99 percent of the total medical expenditure, said Tsai Shu-ling, director of the bureau's medical affairs department.

The proportion last year showed steady increases from 25.5 percent in 2007 and 26.2 percent from 2008.

The statistics also show that the combined medical costs were the highest for kidney patients requiring dialysis and those battling cancer, chronic mental disorder, auto-immune disease, and hemophilia.

For these patients, the per capita medical costs for hemophilia patients ranked the highest at more than NT$2 million per person each year, compared with the average cost of NT$21,000 for the average person, followed by those in need of respiratory treatment or dialysis.

The heavy use of medical resources on a small number of patients has sparked criticisms from some people, including members of the Control Yuan.

But Tsai at the BNHI said it is the bureau's responsibility to take care of these patients despite the heavy cost of treatment for major illnesses.

Without the NHI program, these patients would not be able to get adequate medical care.

Tsai also pointed out that many patients suffering from cancer and other major illnesses can often improve their quality of life and prolong life expectancy.

Many were even able to return to the job market to work after receiving proper medical treatment, making the medical costs more worthwhile, she stressed.

It is certainly worthwhile to use about a quarter of health insurance premiums to help and treat these patients, Tsai added.

Officials at the BNHI and the Bureau of Medical Affairs, also under the DOH, have worked out plans to encourage kidney transplants so that many patients will no longer need to resort to costly and painful dialysis.

Organizations in the private sector have also stepped up the campaign of promoting “hospice” treatment. With the consent from patients themselves and their families, valuable medical resources could be saved for others, they said.

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