TY - JOUR
T1 - Willingness to pay to sustain and expand National Health Insurance services in Taiwan
AU - Lang, Hui Chu
AU - Lai, Mei Shu
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was funded by a grant from Department of Health, The Executive Yuan, Taiwan. We would like to thank all the team members in the Second Generation Health Insurance research group for their helps on the questionnaire design, survey sampling and data analysis.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Background. The purpose of the present study was to investigate people's willingness to pay to sustain the current National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan and to extend that program to cover long-term care services. Methods. A survey was administered to 1800 inpatients and 1800 outpatients, selected from health care facilities across all accreditation levels that were operating under the supervision of six different regional branches of Taiwan's Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI). We used a contingent valuation method with closed-ended questions to elicit participants' willingness to pay for continued national heath insurance and additional institutional long-term care services. We divided participants into six subgroups and asked individuals in these groups referendum-like yes-no questions about whether they were willing to pay one of six price bids: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) 50, NT$100, NT$200, NT$300, NT$400, or NT$500. Logistic regression was used to analyze willingness to pay. Results. We found maximum willingness to pay for continued coverage by the NHI program and additional institutional long-term care services to be NT$66 and NT$137 dollars per month, respectively. Conclusion. We found that people were willing to pay more for their insurance coverage. With regard to methodology, we also found that using a contingent valuation method to elicit peoples' willingness to pay for health policy issues is valid. The results of the present referendum-like study can serve as a reference for future policy decision making.
AB - Background. The purpose of the present study was to investigate people's willingness to pay to sustain the current National Health Insurance (NHI) program in Taiwan and to extend that program to cover long-term care services. Methods. A survey was administered to 1800 inpatients and 1800 outpatients, selected from health care facilities across all accreditation levels that were operating under the supervision of six different regional branches of Taiwan's Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI). We used a contingent valuation method with closed-ended questions to elicit participants' willingness to pay for continued national heath insurance and additional institutional long-term care services. We divided participants into six subgroups and asked individuals in these groups referendum-like yes-no questions about whether they were willing to pay one of six price bids: New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) 50, NT$100, NT$200, NT$300, NT$400, or NT$500. Logistic regression was used to analyze willingness to pay. Results. We found maximum willingness to pay for continued coverage by the NHI program and additional institutional long-term care services to be NT$66 and NT$137 dollars per month, respectively. Conclusion. We found that people were willing to pay more for their insurance coverage. With regard to methodology, we also found that using a contingent valuation method to elicit peoples' willingness to pay for health policy issues is valid. The results of the present referendum-like study can serve as a reference for future policy decision making.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60549106034&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1472-6963-8-261
DO - 10.1186/1472-6963-8-261
M3 - Article
C2 - 19091093
AN - SCOPUS:60549106034
SN - 1472-6963
VL - 8
JO - BMC Health Services Research
JF - BMC Health Services Research
M1 - 261
ER -
