Thanks to its success containing COVID-19, Taiwan has avoided the kind of hospital overcrowding seen in many countries around the world. But new figures from the National Health Administration show Taiwan residents still use health services almost a third more often than citizens in nearby Japan.
The public healthcare system in Taiwan is both affordable and offers high-quality services. No wonder many know their local hospitals like their own backyards.
Just how much Taiwanese people like going to the doctor can be seen from the annual National Health Insurance statistics. In 2020, the people of Taiwan visited clinics and hospitals a total of 340 million times, which is around the same number as in the previous year. However, over 30,000 patients used medical services more than 90 times last year, and the record-holder logged 839 visits. That is at least two per day on average.
Head of the Medical Affairs Division of the National Health Insurance Administration, Chang Yu-bin, says that only around 40% of frequent patients were in that category also in the previous year. This shows that consultation mechanisms are reducing the numbers of frequent visitors.
Deputy Director Hung Tzu-Jen from Taipei’s Shin Kong hospital says the average Taiwanese uses medical services 16 times every year. For comparison, in neighboring Japan that number is just under 13. He advocates tying insurance payments to frequency of visits.
Medical visit numbers have dropped since 2017 when comprehensive consultation mechanisms were introduced, but high-frequency patients often don’t fall within their scope. Lin Ya-hui from the Taiwan Healthcare Reform Foundation says that besides patients who really do need to see the doctor often, there are others, for whom frequent visits might be more of a psychological problem.
Experts say that besides better integration and management of medical resources, an increase in medical fees might be in order, so that those resources are used more reasonably.