The Executive Yuan approved the Ministry of Health and Welfare's (MOHW) "Cancer New Drug Accessibility Improvement and Ten-Billion New Cancer Drug Fund Planning" on July 11th! The plan will increase the cancer screening budget by NT$4 billion, from NT$2.8 billion to NT$6.8 billion, starting in 2025. Additionally, the National Health Insurance Fund will receive an additional NT$5 billion from the general budget for "the Special Fund for Provisional Listing of New Cancer Drugs". Director General Chung-Liang Shih of the NHIA stated that relevant funds will gradually increase to NT$10 billion by 2025. Moreover, the coverage of five cancer screening services will be extended to additional age groups.
Premier Jung-Tai Cho stated that Taiwan is implementing a series of measures to reduce the cancer mortality rate and aims to decrease deaths in Taiwan by one-third by 2030. These measures include increasing the cancer screening budget (which will be raised by NT$4 billion, from NT$2.8 billion to NT$6.8 billion, in 2025), focusing on genetic tests and precision medicine, and establishing a New Cancer Drug Fund. An additional NT$5 billion from the government's general budget will be allocated to the National Health Insurance Fund for "the Special Fund for Provisional Listing of New Cancer Drugs". In the future, these funds will gradually increase to NT$10 billion. The MOHW emphasized that "the Directions for the Implementation of the Special Fund for Provisional Listing of New Cancer Drugs" will be finalized by the end of 2024 to ensure transparency in fund expenditures.
Director General Shih of the NHIA specified the measures for extending the coverage of five cancer screening services to additional age groups, which are as follows:
- Colon cancer screening coverage will be available for adults aged 45 to 74 years (previously 50 to 74 years), and for adults aged 40 to 44 with family medical histories.
- Cervical cancer screening coverage will be available for women over the age of 25 (previously 30).
- Breast cancer screening coverage will be available for women aged 40 to 74 years (previously 45 to 69 years).
- Lung cancer screening coverage will be available for heavy smokers who smoke 20 packs of cigarettes or more per year with family medical histories (previously 30 packs).
- Stomach cancer screening coverage will be available for adults aged 45 to 74 years, conducted in the form of helicobacter pylori stool antigen test.