Rationale for an Ideal National Health Insurance Program

Health insurance programs may vary, yet they must be based on certain ideal values. Taiwan testified to this principle when its National Health Insurance Program was designed and implemented.

Taiwan implemented its National Health Insurance Program in 1995. As in many other countries that had committed to reforming their national healthcare programs, Taiwan's NHI is based on the core values of universal accessibility, equity of financial burden, and cost containment. Over the past 13 years, Taiwan's NHI has come a long way in the areas of medical care quality, easy accessibility, financial fairness, responsiveness to the public, and affordability. However, there are several challenges that remain to be overcome.

These challenges include: 1) Lingering health inequity, despite sufficient health care resources; 2) The overuse of health services that has accompanied improvements in accessibility; 3) The political unpopularity of raising the premium rate in the face of rapidly rising medical costs, while the public continues to demand an ever-expanding package of benefits; 4) Endless debate over the nature of NHI - is it social security or social welfare?—that has undermined policy stability; and 5) The problem of giving precedence to “purchasing health” over “purchasing services”

The top priority for us, therefore, is to overcome those challenges while preserving what we have accomplished. It remains our mission to make good on our promise to provide quality and omnipresent healthcare to the people, from cradle to grave.