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Abstract
<p class="first" id="d8028711e53">In 1995, after a planning effort of about half a
decade, the Republic of China (Taiwan)
replaced a previous patchwork of separate social health insurance funds with one single-payer,
national health insurance scheme that is administered by an agency of the central
government's Department of Health. Within a year this bold legislative act brought
the health care utilization rates of the 41 percent of Taiwan's hitherto uninsured
population up to par with those of the previously insured population. This paper describes
the achievements of this policy initiative so far, along with the growing pains it
has encountered, and seeks to extract lessons from the experience for health policymakers
in other countries.
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