I’m a firm advocate of the health care system here in Taiwan. I’ve received far better health care here in Taiwan than I ever received in Canada. I finally received my first proper diagnosis after suffering from a chronic ear condition that has resulted in significant hearing loss over the past twenty years. I have been working with an ENT specialist once a week for the past year, and slowly but surely, my condition is improving. There’s no way I could have afforded the time or money to pursue this in Canada. It’s simply impossible. When I got really sick in April, my family begged me to return home to sick ‘proper’ health care, and to be honest, never once did I doubt the treatment I’m receiving from my doctors here.

Taiwan’s health care system truly is a system that works for the people. It’s affordable. It’s efficient. Most of the offices I’ve been in have top-notch equipment and doctors who are very capable. I’ve read that the health care system is suffering, and I truly hope that the government can figure something out to keep it the way it is. I think Western countries could learn a lot from Taiwan.

I am not optimistic about Taiwan’s health care in the future for the simple reason that global budgeting, which came into effect a couple of years ago, severely limits the amount of money hospitals can spend. It’s designed of course to reduce waste, increase efficiency etc, but inevitably it’s going to reduce the quality of patient care, and worsen the problem of hospitals massaging their figures. Taiwan’s health care system is already in debt and it’s only going to get worse. Still, if I got seriously ill, I’d rather be treated here than in the UK, where the NHS seems to be at the point of collapse.

One of the reasons that Taiwan NHI is so effective is that it is a relatively young system. I don’t have the figures available, but the Taiwan NHI is already running in debt even though universal coverage is a relatively recent innovation.

None of this means that I think Taiwan should move toward a privatized or partially privatized system. But as I keep repeating, much of the system only appears functional because the majority of those using it are not ill.

One of the reasons that Taiwan NHI is so effective is that it is a relatively young system. I don’t have the figures available Taiwan NHI is running already in debt even though universal coverage is a relatively recent innovation.

None of this means that I think Taiwan should move toward a privatized or partially privatized system. But as I keep repeating, much of the system only appears functional because no one who is truly ill uses it.

2. The problem in America is much worse than “sick people can’t afford to get treated.” The system is run by the insurance industry whose incentives are to only provide their product to the people who will never need it. They have been very effective at doing this, as the movie makes clear.

3. I think Taiwan’s system actually does pretty well, and you CAN pay a little more for private insurance to supplement the national insurance. In fact, I already do, although my experience so far is that we haven’t really needed it.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t problems with Taiwan’s system – but as I said above, I think a lot of these are endemic to modern Westernized medicine and are not unique to Taiwan. Even in the US I know many people who had to go to 4 or 5 different doctors before they got a correct diagnosis.

As you are seeing here, Taiwanese and long-term residents don’t have the same faith. We all know that doctors mess things up all the time. In addition to not having enough time, they will not refer you to other doctors or better-equipped medical centers when that is clearly what you need. The result of this is that patients shop around for doctors and habitually get multiple consultations on a condition. While you might think this is common sense, it is absolutely necessary here because you simply can’t count on getting proper advice and treatment from a physician.

In addition, the National Health Plan pays for all kinds of folk treatments that have no demonstrated efficacy. Sure all of this makes for patient confidence in the system, but this expanded range of options in combination with high accessibility and physician’s low credibility make the system far more expensive than its cost should warrant. In addition, it is great for that large portion of the patient body who have a condition that will disappear without medical intervention, but if you really have serious medical condition, it’s a big problem. It can take a long time finding a doctor who will take the time to diagnose and treat it properly. And in the meantime, you might die.

Actually, I think the low cost of medicine in Taiwan encourages preventative medicine. Taiwanese got to see a doctor even if they’ve just had a cold, whereas many Americans don’t see the doctor until it is already an emergency.

I don’t do medical research so I don’t know about the research on Aborigines and TB. However, I do know that Aborigines are generally poorer and live in under-served regions of Taiwan.