Facing discontent from six major Taiwanese industrial groups over the Department of Health's (DOH) plan to hike the national health insurance premium rate, Taiwan's DOH should communicate with the business groups to avoid a major controversy erupting, the minister of economic affairs said Tuesday. Shih Yen-shiang said that the health ministry has so far not discussed its plan with the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), and that the MOEA has not been involved in working out the plan to adjust the insurance premium rate to save the national health insurance system from collapsing from huge and still expanding deficits. 'If (the DOH can) talk more about it, it may be able to dissolve some unnecessary misunderstanding,' Shih told reporters. The influential industrial groups complained on Monday that the plan to adjust the national health premium rate higher from 4.55 percent to 5.17 percent, effective April 1, will cost employers an additional NT$23.41 billion (US$732.82 million) annually. Under Taiwan's health insurance system, the employer is obliged to pay 60 percent of the cost per insured person, while the government pays 10 percent and the individual 30 percent. Chang Pen-tsao, chairman of Taiwan's General Chamber of Commerce, suggested revising laws to cut the ratio employers must pay from 60 percent to 50 percent of their employees' premiums, while making the government raise its ratio from 10 percent to 20 percent. Shih said that the employer, who must pay the lion's share of the insurance cost, should have a chance to voice their opinions before the DOH decides on the premium rate. Like most people in the country, the MOEA did not know about the premium rate adjustment plan until reading about in newspaper reports, Shih said. 