22 years have elapsed since the establishment of the National Health Insurance (NHI) system in Taiwan. Lee Po-Chang, Director General of the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA), was invited to give a presentation entitled “Achievements and Challenges of Taiwan National Health Insurances” at the Taiwan-Switzerland Joint Forum on Health Insurance held on May 23 and to share the achievements of the country’s NHI system. Taiwan’s ability to provide medical care services of exceptional quality was praised by participants of the forum.
Although Taiwan was unable to participate as an observer at this year’s World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHA Action Team led by MOHW Minister Chen Shih-Chung still headed for Geneva as planned. Following the international press release convened by the MOHW Minister in Geneva, the forum attended by NHIA Director General Lee was one of several events taking place on the sidelines of the WHA to share professional views and experiences on NHI issues with Swiss delegates.
NHIA Director General Lee pointed out that Taiwan’s NHI system is able to afford high-quality medical services for Taiwanese citizens, due largely in part to President Tsai’s series of policy implementations, including the unlocking of the NHI card, the inclusion of a new oral drug treatment for hepatitis C in the NHI coverage, the integration of Long-Term Care 2.0 Service in the project for home-based medical care, the launch of the referral system enhancement measures and bilateral referrals, the My Health Bank upgrade service, further improvements to the NHI Mobile App, and the introduction of the NHI MediCloud System.
In the past few years, Director General Lee stressed, the medical care expenditure has continued to surge. According to big data analytics, Lee found that there remains substantial room for improvements in the NHI system, which necessitates NHI users to collectively reduce unnecessary waste, and prevent repeated use of medications and health examination services. In response, NHI operations will endeavor to meet the demand for medical services by providing the best medical environment for 23 million Taiwanese citizens and ensuring that health professionals receive the reasonable pay they are entitled to. Thus, a happy workplace is created for sustaining the management of Taiwan’s NHI system.
The Taiwan-Switzerland Joint Forum on Health Insurance was chaired by Bettina Borisch, Professor of Institute of Global Health, University of Geneva, and attended by Lee Po-Chang (Director General of NHIA), as well as Chen Shih-Chung (MOHW Minister), Kuo Hsu-Sung (Consultant of the WHA Action Team), Wang Ying-Wei (Director-General, Health Promotion Administration), Wu Shou-Mei (Director-General of Food and Drug Administration), and Tsai Shu-Feng (Director-General of the Health Ministry’s Department of Nursing and Health Care).
From: National Health Insurance Administration Ministry of Health and Welfare