National Health Insurance at 31: Chen Chih-hung Proposes 3 Arrows of Reform
As Taiwan's National Health Insurance marks its 31st year, Chen Chih-hung, Deputy Convener of the Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, proposed three major reforms: shifting care philosophy, transforming care models, and changing medical payment systems to ensure sustainable healthcare.
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- 📰 Published: April 22, 2026 at 20:01
- 🔍 Collected: April 22, 2026 at 20:32 (31 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 23, 2026 at 14:55 (18h 23m after Collected)
Central News Agency
(CNA Reporter Chen Chieh-ling, Taipei, 22nd) As the National Health Insurance (NHI) enters its 31st year, Chen Chih-hung, Deputy Convener of the Presidential Office's Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, gave a speech at the NHI Committee today. He proposed three arrows of reform: overturning the care philosophy, changing the care model, and modifying the medical payment model, to enhance public health and the sustainable development of medical care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare's NHI Committee focused on Healthy Taiwan for the first time today. Chen Chih-hung delivered a speech analyzing the vision and promotion of Healthy Taiwan and engaged in a dialogue with 39 NHI Committee members. He urged that as the NHI turns 31 this year, it still needs breakthroughs and innovation, proposing the "3 Arrows of NHI Reform."
The first arrow is to overturn the care philosophy, transforming from the past medical provider-centric "disease care" to patient-centric "health care," strengthening preventive medicine and health promotion.
Chen Chih-hung stated that the second arrow is to change the care model, expanding from "fragmented care" that treats diseases rather than people, to holistic "integrated care" that provides continuous care across institutions and professions.
The third arrow aims to change the medical payment model, evolving from the disease treatment-oriented "fee-for-service" to the health outcome-oriented "pay-for-performance," shaping an incentive mechanism for high-quality care.
Chen mentioned that the Healthy Taiwan Forum has three major characteristics: bottom-up, public-private collaboration, and cross-disciplinary. It inspires cross-professional, cross-generational, cross-regional, and cross-ethnic dialogues to consolidate effective countermeasures for a Healthy Taiwan. Healthy Taiwan and NHI reforms affect medical systems at all levels and rely on public-private and doctor-patient cooperation, requiring the NHI Committee to build bridges.
Chou Li-fang, Chairperson of the NHI Committee, stated through a press release this evening that the 2026 NHI global budget set two historical records. First, all global budget sectors reached the Executive Yuan's approved maximum growth rate of 5.5%, a first in history; second, the NHI global budget, plus the public budget, reached a staggering 1.0082 trillion NTD. She emphasized that the NHI Committee has the responsibility to build a communication bridge between the NHI and Healthy Taiwan.
Chen Hsiang-kuo, Chairman of the Taiwan Medical Association, was one of the attending members today. He said the medical community highly affirms the six pillars of Healthy Taiwan revealed by Chen Chih-hung, calling the direction clear and concretely feasible. The Association will continue to play an important bridging role in policy promotion and grassroots implementation, combining frontline medical experience to help optimize the NHI system and healthcare transformation.
The Presidential Office established the "Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee" two years ago, rolling out six major pillars: promoting the national cancer prevention plan, the 888 three highs prevention plan, strengthening public mental health resilience, combining technology to strengthen medical resilience, optimizing NHI sustainability, and launching the Long-term Care 3.0 ten-year plan. (Editor: Lee Heng-shan)
(CNA Reporter Chen Chieh-ling, Taipei, 22nd) As the National Health Insurance (NHI) enters its 31st year, Chen Chih-hung, Deputy Convener of the Presidential Office's Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee, gave a speech at the NHI Committee today. He proposed three arrows of reform: overturning the care philosophy, changing the care model, and modifying the medical payment model, to enhance public health and the sustainable development of medical care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare's NHI Committee focused on Healthy Taiwan for the first time today. Chen Chih-hung delivered a speech analyzing the vision and promotion of Healthy Taiwan and engaged in a dialogue with 39 NHI Committee members. He urged that as the NHI turns 31 this year, it still needs breakthroughs and innovation, proposing the "3 Arrows of NHI Reform."
The first arrow is to overturn the care philosophy, transforming from the past medical provider-centric "disease care" to patient-centric "health care," strengthening preventive medicine and health promotion.
Chen Chih-hung stated that the second arrow is to change the care model, expanding from "fragmented care" that treats diseases rather than people, to holistic "integrated care" that provides continuous care across institutions and professions.
The third arrow aims to change the medical payment model, evolving from the disease treatment-oriented "fee-for-service" to the health outcome-oriented "pay-for-performance," shaping an incentive mechanism for high-quality care.
Chen mentioned that the Healthy Taiwan Forum has three major characteristics: bottom-up, public-private collaboration, and cross-disciplinary. It inspires cross-professional, cross-generational, cross-regional, and cross-ethnic dialogues to consolidate effective countermeasures for a Healthy Taiwan. Healthy Taiwan and NHI reforms affect medical systems at all levels and rely on public-private and doctor-patient cooperation, requiring the NHI Committee to build bridges.
Chou Li-fang, Chairperson of the NHI Committee, stated through a press release this evening that the 2026 NHI global budget set two historical records. First, all global budget sectors reached the Executive Yuan's approved maximum growth rate of 5.5%, a first in history; second, the NHI global budget, plus the public budget, reached a staggering 1.0082 trillion NTD. She emphasized that the NHI Committee has the responsibility to build a communication bridge between the NHI and Healthy Taiwan.
Chen Hsiang-kuo, Chairman of the Taiwan Medical Association, was one of the attending members today. He said the medical community highly affirms the six pillars of Healthy Taiwan revealed by Chen Chih-hung, calling the direction clear and concretely feasible. The Association will continue to play an important bridging role in policy promotion and grassroots implementation, combining frontline medical experience to help optimize the NHI system and healthcare transformation.
The Presidential Office established the "Healthy Taiwan Promotion Committee" two years ago, rolling out six major pillars: promoting the national cancer prevention plan, the 888 three highs prevention plan, strengthening public mental health resilience, combining technology to strengthen medical resilience, optimizing NHI sustainability, and launching the Long-term Care 3.0 ten-year plan. (Editor: Lee Heng-shan)