Abstract
National Health Insurance (NHI) was introduced in 1995 as the first universal medical insurance system in Taiwan. Before that, there existed sixteen medical insurance programs, which covered only a small part of the population. The reason for the lack of the universal system can be attributed to the existence of conflict with Mainland China and the decision by the Kuomingtang, Taiwan's long-term dominant party, to give top priority to economical development, rather than social development. However, the establishment of universal system became one of the political agendas through the democratization process since mid-1980's. In 1997, Taiwan government planned to cut costs by privatizing and pluralizing of NHI. KMT and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the opposition party, have agreed on the privatization of state-owned enterprises so far, but it may take years to reform the NHI because both the national and international politics concerning Taiwan have been very unsteady. In this article, I conclude that the attempt of Taiwan's pluralism will be increasingly demanded by changing civil society and political party systems of Taiwan and the relationship with Mainland China.
