A 10-Year Experience with Universal Health Insurance in Taiwan: Measuring Changes in Health and Health Disparity

Established in 1927 by the American College of Physicians

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A 10-Year Experience with Universal Health Insurance in Taiwan: Measuring Changes in Health and Health Disparity

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Appendix Table 1. Population, Number of Townships, and Range of Standardized Mortality Ratios for the 10 Health Class Groups ${webonly}$

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Table 1. Difference between Life Expectancy at Birth before and after the Introduction of National Health Insurance and Change in Disparity*

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Appendix Figure. Secular trends of life expectancy at birth for the 10 health class groups (HCGs), 1982–1984 to 2002–2004. ${webonly}$

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Figure 1. Gain in life expectancy during the period before (1982–1984 to 1992–1994) and after (1992–1994 to 2002–2004) the introduction of national health insurance (NHI).

*Increase in life expectancy during the period before NHI (from 1982–1984 to 1992–1994). ${dagger}$ Increase in life expectancy during the period after NHI (from 1992–1994 to 2002–2004).

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Figure 2. Difference between changes in life expectancy at birth before and after the introduction of national health insurance (NHI).

Pre-NHI was 1982–1984 to 1992–1994, and post-NHI was 1992–1994 to 2002–2004. Error bars represent 95% CIs.

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Figure 3. Gaps in life expectancy for health class groups 2 to 10 versus health class group 1.

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Table 2. Difference between Life Expectancy at Birth and at Age 45 Years before and after the Introduction of National Health Insurance and Change in Disparity for 3 Broad Health Classes (High, Medium, and Low)*

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Figure 4. Cause-specific contribution to gain in life expectancy during the period before and after the introduction of national health insurance (NHI).

HCG = health class group. Results are based on a modified cause–deletion life-table method, which assumes independence for each cause of death. Not all possible causes of death are included. Bars extending below the horizontal axis indicate that deaths from those causes contributed to reduced life expectancy, whereas bars extending above the horizontal axis contributed to improved life expectancy.

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Appendix Table 2. Decomposition of Gap during the Period before the Introduction of National Health Insurance, 1982–1984 to 1992–1994 ${webonly}$

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Appendix Table 3. Decomposition of Gap during the Period after the Introduction of National Health Insurance (NHI), 1992–1994 to 2002–2004 ${webonly}$

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Table 3. Comparison of Selected Statistics between Health Class Groups 1 and 10 in 2004

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Appendix Table 4. Outpatient and Inpatient Medical Care Utilization and Expenditure under National Health Insurance in Taiwan, 1995 to 2004 ${webonly}$

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Appendix Table 5. Number and Expenditure of Physician Visits per Person in 2004, by Age ${webonly}$

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Table 4. National Health Care Expenditures in Taiwan