Pharmaceutical News
Taiwan’s health care system rated best in the world according to business magazine
2019/08/16

Taiwan’s health care system has topped 89 other countries in a survey conducted by a notable business magazine. National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA) Director-General Lee Po-chang attributed the accolade to the high level of trust among care givers in Taiwan’s single-payer health care system.

In an interview, Director-General Lee said that he had the chance to share Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system and cloud-based medical information system at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference, which drew a high level of interest from participants.

Director-General Lee said that Taiwan’s highly regarded National Health Insurance system is the ideal topic to further exchanges with the international community. Health officials from many countries shared their views on Taiwan’s example, while the Philippines voiced its wish to further health care collaborations with Taiwan, which shows that Taiwan’s reputation is rising among countries listed in the New Southbound Policy.

In addition, Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system was recognized by CEOWorld as best in the world. Director-General Lee said that in CEOWorld’s survey of 89 countries, Taiwan earned a score of 78.72 points out of 100 points in the 2019 Health Care Index, besting South Korea’s second-place ranking and Japan’s third-place ranking.

Director-General Lee said the main reason why Taiwan was able to outrank South Korea is primarily due to the fact that only about 50 percent of South Korean physicians have elected to join the country’s national health insurance system, while communication between the South Korean government and its medical industry has remained strained, leading to numerous labor strikes among care givers. By contrast, physicians have a high level of trust in the National Health Insurance system with 93 percent electing to join the publicly funded program. As a result, the government’s push for policies such as referral systems and making inpatient visits available during holidays have been progressing smoothly, which has helped in raising the standard of health care as well as preventing wastage of medical resources.

Director-General Lee emphasized that to better utilize Taiwan’s collection of medical big data through research to improve upon precision medicine and medical care.

【2019-08-08 / CNA】