The aging of Taiwan’s population is a serious problem. There are now around 2.48 million people aged 65 or older in Taiwan, accounting for more than 10 percent of the total population, yet they are using a third of National Health Insurance (NHI) resources.
Data from the Department of Health shows that NHI resources worth NT$169 billion were spent on people aged 65 or older in 2010, an increase by 88 percent over the course of a decade. The Council for Economic Planning and Development estimates that it will increase by another 6.2 percentage points over the next decade, and that medical fees for the nation’s elderly will increase even more rapidly .
Statistics show that 42 percent of NHI expenses for people aged 65 or older in 2010 were concentrated in urology, osteology, cancer, cerebrovascular diseases and accident-related injuries.
Photo: Tsai Wen-cheng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者蔡文正
According to data for 2010 from the Ministry of the Interior, the average remaining life span at age 65 was 19.2 years — 17.6 for males and 20.9 for females, an increase of 1.7, 1.2 and 2.1 years respectively when compared to 10 years earlier.
The longer people live, the more medical resources they use. Aside from an estimated huge increase in medical expenses for people aged 65 or older in the next decade, NHI expenditures for people over the age of 80 has already increased by 219 percent over the past decade. In 2010, NHI expenses for the 600,000 people over the age of 80 were already NT$53 billion, accounting for 30 percent of all NHI expenses for the elderly.
(Liberty Times, Translated by Kyle Jeffcoat)
台灣人口老化問題嚴重,國內六十五歲以上人口約有二百四十八萬人、佔總人口一成多,卻用掉三分之一健保醫療資源。
根據衛生署統計,民國九十九年六十五歲以上人口健保醫療費用計一千六百九十一億元,十年來成長百分之八十八,依經建會人口推估,未來十年將再上升六.二個百分點,未來國內老年人口的醫療費用將會更快速成長。
據統計,民國九十九年六十五歲以上國人健保醫療費用,有四成二集中用於泌尿、骨骼、癌症、事故傷害及腦血管疾病上。
根據內政部統計,九十九年六十五歲國人的平均餘命為十九點二歲,男性十七點六歲,女性二十點九歲,分別較十年前增加一點七歲、一點二歲及二點一歲。
活得愈久,使用的醫療資源愈多,推估未來十年除六十五歲以上人口健保醫療費用呈現高成長之外,八十歲以上老人的健保醫療費用,十年來更成長百分之二百一十九,民國九十九年,六十萬名八十歲以上老人的健保醫療費用總計已達五百三十億元,佔所有老人健保醫療費用的三成。
(自由時報記者魏怡嘉)
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