Lee JL, Lin L, Lin BY, Wu HD; AcademyHealth. Meeting (2004 : San Diego, Calif.).
Abstr AcademyHealth Meet. 2004; 21: abstract no. 1750.
China Medical University (Taiwan), Health Care Administration, 91 Hsueh Shih Road , Taichung , 404 Tel. +886.4.22053366 Ext. 7234 Fax +886.4.22019901
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: This research has three objectives. The first is to evaluate if the National Health Insurance scheme which is implemented in 1995 in Taiwan improves the general health status of people. The second objective is to evaluate the impact of the NHI scheme on the health indicators in Taiwan. The third is to explore the impact of the NHI scheme on the avoidable mortality rate in Taiwan. STUDY DESIGN: For the first objective, the general health status of Taiwan people between 1994 and 2002 is analyzed. The general health status is measured by the short-form 36 scores of people between these two years. For the second objective, health indicators in Taiwan are analyzed by time series method. The health indicators include life expectancy, infant mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate, and maternal mortality rate from 1959 to 2001. For the third objective, the avoidable mortality rate in Taiwan is analyzed, using the statistical data from 1974 to 2001. POPULATION STUDIED: The mortality data are collect from the governmental statistical records. Two national samples of people in Taiwan are interviewed in 1994 and 2002 to collect the short-form 36 scores of general health status. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The results show that comparing with the general population or people not enrolled in health insurance scheme in 1994, the 2002 population have no significant different physician component scores of SF-36 questionnaire, but have significantly lower mental component scores of SF-36 questionnaire by 0.3 to 0.4 standard deviations. Similar results are found if the population is confined in the geographical middle area of Taiwan. Using the life expectancy, infant mortality rate, neonatal mortality rate, maternal mortality rate, and preventable mortality rate as indicators, the time series analysis of AR models show that there is no significant difference between the predicted and observed data from 1995 to 2001. Some reasons are also discussed in the study. CONCLUSIONS: From the SF-36 scores, this study fails to find the evidence of positive impact of the NHI scheme on the health status of the general population in Taiwan. This study either fails to find the evidence of positive impact of the NHI scheme on the general or some specific health indicators in Taiwan. IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY, DELIVERY OR PRACTICE: The compulsory national health insurance scheme may not be the major factor for affecting people's health status. Some other health promotion programmes are desired to improve national health status.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Demography
- Health Status
- Health Status Indicators
- Humans
- Infant
- Infant Mortality
- Life Expectancy
- Maternal Mortality
- Mothers
- National Health Programs
- Physicians
- Population Groups
- Questionnaires
- Residence Characteristics
- Taiwan
- hsrmtgs
UI: 103624784
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