When hospital fees are cheaper without insurance

When hospital fees are cheaper without insurance

2024-03-20

What happens when you show up at the hospital without your NHI card? In some cases, you could end up paying less. That’s what happened earlier this month, when a New Taipei mother forgot her daughter’s health insurance card. She braced herself for a bigger bill, but ended up with a bargain. This is what happened.

On March 1, a woman surnamed Chen took her daughter to Shuang Ho Hospital, to review a medical test result. She expected the fee to be NT$620, but having forgotten her NHI card, she feared having to pay more than NT$1,000. To her surprise, she was billed just NT$430 without insurance. Hospital staff advised her not to reapply with insurance, as that would incur a greater fee. She was puzzled as to why fees are higher with insurance than without.

Hung Tzu-jen
Shin Kong Wu Ho-Su Memorial Hospital
When people come to a medical institution to get a diagnosis, to review a report or for a consultation – if no medicines, tests or treatments are prescribed – the non-NHI fee can indeed be lower than the NHI co-pay.

Shuang Ho Hospital has responded to the incident. It said the non-NHI fee for reviewing a health report comprises NT$200 for registration and NT$230 for the consult, for a total of NT$430. But if examinations are carried out or medicines are prescribed, additional charges could be tacked on, and it could be cheaper to use NHI.

On March 1, Shuang Ho Hospital, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital and National Taiwan University Hospital’s Hsinchu branch were upgraded to medical centers. Outpatient co-pays went up from NT$240 to NT$420, and emergency care co-pays rose from NT$400 to NT$750. The hike has raised complaints from patients with long-term conditions.

Lin Ya-hui
Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation
The medical network plan calls for one medical center for every 2 million people. That means Taiwan only needs 12 medical centers. But already we have more than 20. Half of them are in Taipei and New Taipei. Where’s the fairness in that?

According to the Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation, the rising number of medical centers could come at the detriment of regional hospitals and residents in rural areas.

For more Taiwan news, tune in:
Sun to Fri at 9:30 pm on Channel 152
Tue to Sat at 1 am on Channel 53

大醫院就醫看報告自費掛號竟比健保更便宜

2024-03-20

3/1起台北慈濟醫院、雙和醫院及台大新竹分院都晉升為醫學中心，急門診部分負擔調漲，讓許多民眾哀嚎，不過日前有家長帶小孩去雙和醫院看報告，忘記帶健保卡，自費掛號，原以為掛號費會破千元，沒想到到櫃檯批價時，竟比用健保便宜。

新北一名陳媽媽3/1晚上，帶女兒到雙和醫院回診看報告，預估批價620元，但當天忘了帶健保卡，擔心自費恐破千元，最後結帳竟只收430元，櫃檯小姐還告訴她，不必拿健保卡來補辦，否則不但沒有退費，甚至還要多繳錢，讓她不解為何自費竟比健保便宜。

[[新光醫院副院長洪子仁]]
“如果民眾到醫療機構來就醫，他本身只有開診斷書，或者是聽取報告，或者只是做諮詢，而沒有任何藥物或檢查、處置的開立的情況之下，那他的基本費用可能就會低於健保的部分負擔的一個金額”

對此雙和醫院也回應，民眾自費看報告，僅需負擔掛號200元、診察費230元，共430元，但若有檢查、領藥等醫療需求，就會產生其他費用，所以自費就未必比健保便宜。

3/1起雙和醫院、台北慈濟、台大新竹分院，都升格醫學中心，門診部分負擔從240元調整為420元，急診部分負擔也從400元調整為750元，讓有長期醫療需求的患者直呼吃不消。

[[醫改會執行長林雅惠]]
“根據醫療網的規劃，每200萬人設置一家(醫學中心)，只需要12家，目前為止已經突破20家。有半數集中在雙北，請問區域正義何在”

就怕醫學中心越來越多，地區醫院更加式微，大大影響偏鄉民眾就醫權益！

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民視台灣台（152頻道）週日至週五晚上9:30
民視新聞台（53頻道）週二至週六凌晨1:00

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