By Wang Liejun & She Yu, Research Team on “Taiwan Health Care Insurance System”, China International Association for Urban and Rural Development

Research report No. 20, 2018 (Total 5295) 2018-1-22

Abstract: The health care insurance system reform in Taiwan province is one of the successful cases in the world, which boasts the following institutional advantages. 1. It is compulsory for all the residents to participate in the insurance scheme, and they can choose to pay the fees according to their affordability and get the benefit in line with their needs to ensure fair service. 2. Its single-payer system not only reduced the administrative costs but also posed a relatively strong binding force on medical institutions. 3. A multi-pronged payment system is adopted under the framework of aggregate budget system, which ensures an effective expense control. The key of the successful health care insurance system in Taiwan province lies in the institutional structure with single-payer and aggregate budgetary system at the core. Faced with financial crisis and other challenges, a new round of reform on health care insurance system has been launched to levy supplementary premiums on non-salary income earners. With regard to the low efficiency of medical resource utilization, relevant plans have been made and put into effect such as “family-doctor-related health care plan” and “special plan on giving guidance to insurants with high utilization of health care clinics”. The experience gained by Taiwan province on health care insurance system and its countermeasures to address the current challenges make good reference and enlightenments to the mainland in enhancing its medical system reform.

Key words: residential health care system. medical service, Taiwan province