The National Health Insurance Administration (NHI) has approved expanded coverage for cancer gene testing to be available as soon as the end of 2024. NHI Director Chung-Liang Shih (石崇良) said in a joint interview on Thursday that although next-generation sequencing has been available for a long time, insurance coverage was not as widely offered.
NHI Department of Medical Affairs Liu Lin-i (劉林義) also spoke in the interview, saying that newly covered tests detect four types of solid tumors: colorectal, melanoma, gastrointestinal, and thyroid. He added that three more types of blood cancers can be tested for: B-cell or T-cell lymphoma, and NK-cell leukemia. Liu estimated that more than 9,000 people will benefit from the approximately NT$100 million (US$3.2 million) subsidy expected to take effect on December 1 this year.