The National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) announced the drug price adjustment results on February 25, 2026. The drug price adjustment this year amounts to NT$3.615 billion. The adjustment rate has decreased from 2.3% last year to 1.65%, marking the lowest adjustment rate on record. A total of 12,652 items were reviewed. The prices of 10,309 items remained unchanged, while 2,343 items were adjusted—the lowest number of adjustments in history.
The NHIA stated that since the trial implementation of the Drug Expenditure Target (DET) program in 2013, when the actual drug expenditure exceeds the annual target under the global budget system, the price adjustment mechanism is activated the following year. Items whose prices exceed a predetermined range based on a drug price survey are identified for adjustment. Factors considered in these adjustments include drug supply resilience, healthcare service stability, essential medicine needs, reasonableness of the reduction level and frequency, and minimum price protection, thereby ensuring both reasonable adjustments and patients’access to proper medications.
The NHIA emphasized that drug price adjustment is an annual routine under Article 46 of the National Health Insurance Act. In accordance with Article 34 of the NHI Pharmaceutical Benefit and Reimbursement Scheme, pharmaceutical companies that find the adjusted price insufficient to cover costs may submit a request for a price increase to the NHIA. This request must include a cost analysis and be submitted within two weeks of the announcement.
As healthcare technology rapidly evolves, timely introduction of innovative drugs and improved accessibility for the public are critical. In addition to reflecting actual market sales conditions, the savings generated from price adjustments will be reinvested in listing and reimbursing new drugs. The NHIA will continue to advance reforms in NHI pharmaceutical policies to achieve a triple-win outcome: increased new drug accessibility, strengthened drug supply resilience, and secured patients’rights to proper medications.