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Out‐of‐pocket payment for medical care under Taiwan's National Health Insurance system

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  • Chunhuei Chi
  • Jwo‐Leun Lee
  • Shu‐Ling Tsai
  • Wen‐Yi Chen

Abstract

The objective of this study is to estimate the amount of and factors associated with out‐of‐pocket (OOP) payment for medical care under Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) program. This research used two methods to collect original data. The first method consisted of using a sample household survey and household diary records to collect data on OOP payment prospectively over a two‐month period from a random sample of 600 households in central Taiwan. Using the individual as the unit of analysis, we obtained a total of 1062 sample subjects. To ascertain the quality and accuracy of survey data, the claim records of the bureau of NHI were merged with the survey data. These data were analyzed by a two‐part model, with a probit model for use of health care and an ordinary least‐squares model for OOP payments. Results of this research indicate that on average an individual's annual OOP payment for medical care was € 247, which is substantial, compared with the average € 144 for per capita NHI earmarked tax. Finally, results of model estimation indicate that supplemental health insurance and household income were positively associated with any use of health care, while household income was also positively associated with OOP payment for health care. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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  • Chunhuei Chi & Jwo‐Leun Lee & Shu‐Ling Tsai & Wen‐Yi Chen, 2008. "Out‐of‐pocket payment for medical care under Taiwan's National Health Insurance system," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(8), pages 961-975, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:17:y:2008:i:8:p:961-975
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.1312
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    2. Lan Thi Thu Phan & Yusuke Jinnai, 2018. "Does health insurance matter in the hospital? New evidence from patient-level medical records in Vietnam," Working Papers EMS_2018_01, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    3. Soumitra Ghosh, 2015. "Socio-economic Patterns in Inpatient Care Utilisation in India: Is the Income Effect Withering?," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 9(1), pages 39-60, February.
    4. Syed M. Ahsan & Syed Abdul Hamid & Shubhasish Barua, 2012. "Utilisation of Formal Health Care and Out-of-Pocket Payments in Rural Bangladesh," Working Papers 13, Institute of Microfinance (InM).
    5. Lorenz Gschwent & Bjorn Hammarfelt & Martin Karlsson & Mathias Kifmann, 2024. "The Rise of Health Economics: Transforming the Landscape of Economic Research," Papers 2410.06313, arXiv.org.
    6. Pu, Christy & Lee, Miaw-Chwen & Hsieh, Tsung-Che, 2023. "Income-related inequality in out-of-pocket health-care expenditures under Taiwan's national health insurance system: An international comparable estimation based on A System of Health Accounts," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 326(C).

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