Health Care System Of Taiwan - 1386 Words

Health Care System of Taiwan in Comparison to the United States Health Care System Melissa Weiss Saginaw Valley State University Author Note This paper was prepared for Health Policy and Regulation 250, Online, taught by Professor Jan Sternberg. Health Care System of Taiwan in Comparison to the United States Health Care System The health care system of Taiwan was developed based off the problem that not everyone was covered. They wanted to develop a plan that would cover everyone. After Taiwan was economically booming, they then focused on their poor health care system. About half the population had no coverage at all so they found a way to change this(Taiwan Takes Fast Track to Universal Health Care : NPR, n.d.) The†¦show more content†¦Since 1995, Taiwan has had a socialized health care plan, the National Health Insurance (NHI) which covers nearly all citizens†(Taiwan tops the expat health care charts - Telegraph, n.d.) In the following graph of affordability verses quality of healthcare, Taiwan is out on its own as the best country in the world. (Taiwan tops the expat health care charts - Telegraph, n.d.) Taiwan does this by a consolidated system. This system gives everyone equal access to health care. To finance the NHI, the government has a single government run fund that forces everyone to join and therefore pay. It works much like the Medicare system of the United States but has much more benefits. Another aspect of the Taiwanese healthcare is that they have a smart card. This card is carried by everyone and carries on it, every bit of their health information from the day they were born. This card also shows all of their medication and serves as the way for the billing to happen. It goes directly to the government insurance office and it is automatically paid. So Taiwan has the