Ma touts ROC National Health Insurance program

2015/11/03

President Ma Ying-jeou praised Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system Nov. 1 for upholding the rights of the people to world-class health care while effectively reducing social problems stemming from poverty and illness.

“The NHI is characterized by high efficiency, low premiums and quality services,” Ma said. “It has been hailed as a world-leading program in terms of affordability, convenience, flexibility, patient satisfaction and universal coverage.

“Boasting a coverage ratio of over 99 percent and 80 percent satisfaction rate, Taiwan’s NHI has been highly commended by experts and media around the world,” he added. “Among them is Nobel economics laureate Paul Krugman, who singled out the system’s superior performance in a New York Times article in 2005.”

The president made the remarks at the opening of the 2015 Global Health Forum in Taipei City.

Organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare since 2005, the annual event was themed Public Health Governance this year. The two-day forum drew more than 700 participants, including 67 experts and representatives from health-related entities in 32 countries and territories.

According to Ma, the NHI is not just one of Taiwan’s best-received public policies but a valuable national asset. He credited the program for extending average life expectancy from 74.5 years in 1995 to nearly 80 in 2014, adding that the system has been regularly amended to achieve even more comprehensive population coverage.

“Foreign workers have been included in the program since it was put into effect in 1995,” Ma said. “Two revisions, in 1999 and 2001, respectively, expanded coverage to all foreigners and overseas students with legitimate residency, as well as local people’s spouses from Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China.”

Taking effect in January 2013, the second-generation NHI program extended services to prisoners, the president said, noting that Taiwan and France are the only two countries worldwide to include prison populations in their universal health care systems.

“These advances highlight the government’s dedication to bolstering service quality, ensuring coverage for the disadvantaged and establishing Taiwan as an international benchmark in health care,” Ma said.

“We expect public-private sector synergy to strengthen going forward, which will help ensure the system’s long-term sustainable development.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=238418&ctNode=2194&mp=9)