New statistics from the National Health Insurance Administration show that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a drop in the number of patients going to see doctors.
From January to March, Taiwanese people made five million fewer trips to see a doctor than they did during the same period in 2019.
Administration official Lee Chun-fu says this may be in part because of a decision to increase the size of prescriptions, a decision taken after the pandemic began. This has allowed patients to go longer without the need for a checkup appointment in order to get a refill. Lee also said that widespread hand-washing and the wearing of surgical masks may have reduced the number of illnesses needing a doctor’s attention.
However, Lee also said that fears about COVID-19 also kept away those prone to see a doctor unnecessarily.
The same statistics show that while the average person in Taiwan makes 15 visits to a doctor each year, there are also around 35,000 people who go more than 90 times a year. Lee says the insurance administration will pay attention to these extreme cases. She also said that doctors’ computers already alert them when a patient’s insurance card has been used more than 40 times in a three-month period.