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An Overview of the Health System in Taiwan

An article published recently in the London Journal of Primary Care examined recent changes in the health system in Taiwan. Taiwan adopted a national health insurance system in 1995. Hence, both the British and the Taiwanese health systems are single-payment systems that offer universal coverage. However, the method of funding is different as the UK system is tax based, and the Taiwan system us other insurance-premium based. Now in its second decade, the National Health Insurance scheme in Taiwan continues to achieve high satisfaction rates among the Taiwanese people. Based on public opinion polls held by the Bureau of NHI, the overall satisfaction rate has consistently been over 70%.11 The next major challenge for the Taiwanese government is to improve quality of care while keeping national healthcare expenditure under control, and dealing with the rising number of older people in the Taiwanese population.

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