Health Affairs · 2003 · 533 citations · 8 references
Public AffairsHealth PolicyInsuranceHealth Care FinancingHealth InsuranceHealthcare PolicyFinancial ProtectionHealth AccessHealth FinancingHealth Insurance FinancingInsurance CoverageUniversal Health CoverageHealth Care EconomicsHealth Care Financing EquityHealth Care Financing PolicyHealth Financing PolicyHealth InflationHealth Insurance PolicyNational Health InsuranceSingle-payer Systems
Taiwan’s National Health Insurance, a universal single‑payer system launched in 1995, provides comprehensive coverage for all residents. The study investigates whether the NHI has driven health spending to unaffordable levels and examines its benefits. The NHI successfully contained spending inflation, with savings offsetting the cost of covering the previously uninsured, while improving access, financial protection, equity, and achieving a 70 % public satisfaction rate.
This paper examines the performance of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance (NHI), a universal health insurance program, implemented in 1995, that covers comprehensive services. The authors address two key questions: Did the NHI cause Taiwanese health spending to escalate to an “unaffordable” level? What are the benefits of the NHI? They find that Taiwan’s single-payer NHI system enabled Taiwan to manage health spending inflation and that the resulting savings largely offset the incremental cost of covering the previously uninsured. Under the NHI, the Taiwanese have more equal access to health care, greater financial risk protection, and equity in health care financing. The NHI consistently receives a 70 percent public satisfaction rate.
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Taiwan's 1995 health care reform
Tung‐liang Chiang · Health Policy · 1997 · 261 citations
Public Affairs, Health Policy, Health Services Administration +5