Hemophilia cases made up 44 of the 100 most expensive cases covered by the national insurance program in 2002, according to the Bureau of National Health Insurance's latest survey.
The most expensive medical case was of a 51-year-old man with hemophilia A and kidney failure, which cost the program more than NT$16.6 million, the survey showed.
According to the bureau, NT$240 million was spent on treating all hemophilia patients in 2002, about 98 percent of which was spent on drugs.
The survey, which is part of the bureau's attempts to better understand how medical re-sources are used, showed that fat metabolism disorders, especially Gaucher's disease, made up 11 of the 100 most expensive cases.
All but two of the cases involved rare disorders, serious diseases -- such as cancer and hemophilia -- and chronic injuries such as burns.
The bureau said NT$24.5 billion was spent on cancer treatment in 2002, more than on any other disorder.
Spending on end-stage kidney disease was NT$23.6 billion, with NT$7.6 billion spent on chronic psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia.
"For most countries 20 percent of the population will use about 80 percent of the medical resources," said Sheen Mao-Ting (
"In Taiwan, there were about 568,000 patients with major illnesses or injuries in 2002. About 22.6 percent of the medical resources went to those cases, roughly 3 percent of those insured," Sheen said.
He said that, following accusations the health service mis-used resources, the study's main focus was to pinpoint the specific medical cases that incurred the highest medical expenses.
"The study shows that the national insurance program does actually take care of the disadvantaged. Most of the patients on the list would be unable to pay for treatment without making medical claims with the bureau," Sheen said.
Sheen said that similar data for last year would be ready by June.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods