People who have the habit of frequently going to hospitals for outpatient services will be prevented from wasting health care resources under proposed measures to tackle abuse of the system, a health official said Friday. Starting June 1, people who visit hospitals for outpatient services more than 100 times a year will have their health insurance cards 'locked, ' said Chu Tung-kuang, a deputy convener of a task force on Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) affairs under the Department of Health (DOH). That means these frequent hospital visitors will be targeted for an assistance program, under which they will be required to seek medical treatment at designated hospitals, to better keep track of how often they go to see the doctor, Chu said. The measure is part of new initiatives by the DOH to stem and control the increasing expenditures in Taiwan's NHI system. While the system enables Taiwanese people to receive affordable health care, it is deep in debt, partly because of misuse by members enrolled. People in the system only have to pay no more than US$15 for each doctor's visit, regardless of the number of medical tests they are given. Last year, 3,500 people in Taiwan each had more than 100 hospital visits that year, while 382 people went to hospitals more than 200 times. While some of these people may suffer from chronic illnesses, the frequency of their hospital visits is considered excessive. Other measures to counter the problems in the health care system include banning physicians found to be habitual offenders of NHI regulations from serving as contract doctors for the system. The DOH also plans to raise the ratio of hospital beds reserved for NHI patients to the total number of hospital beds in Taiwan. Under the new proposal, the number of NHI-covered beds at public hospitals must reach at least 75 percent, while that at non-public hospitals must be over 60 percent. Chu said many hospitals have expressed difficulty in carrying out the percentages. The DOH will hold a meeting in the near future to hear public opinion about the new measures before putting them into effect, Chu said. 