Taiwan’s insurance trade began developing in the 1960s. Given the newness of the industry, insurance sales agents were often mistakenly thought to be selling a product that wished evil upon people. Due to such misunderstandings, some insurance companies failed to prosper and ceased operations, while others were acquired by multinational corporations.
The development of psychiatric care shares a similar history. After World War II, the Department of Psychiatry at National Taiwan University Hospital was the only institution deemed qualified to practice this new area of medicine. There were very few non-governmental practices, and those institutions were referred to as “madhouses.”
People with mental illnesses would be considered to be possessed by karma creditors, or shouldering the immorality of their ancestors. When a psychiatric institution was about to be established, residents in the surrounding area would try to block construction.
Tsao-Tun Psychiatric Center is one example. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s initial plan, it was meant to be built in Taichung, but local opposition forced the hospital to the foothills of Chielao Mountain (茄荖山) in Nantou County.
Taiwanese are today more enlightened about psychiatry, and the government has helped it gain a more positive profile. Psychiatric institutions in Taiwan are also helping to remove stigma from mental health issues. For instance, the Taiwanese Society of Psychiatry encouraged the Ministry of Health and Welfare to change the term “schizophrenia” to “early psychosis,” and “mental deficiency” to “the loss of intellectual functioning” when referring to dementia.
Medical students in Taiwan no longer consider psychiatry a risky or unpromising career. When Chung-Ho Memorial Hospital announced two openings for resident doctors in psychiatry, it received more than 40 applications.
It is therefore most regrettable that insurance companies do not remember their own stigma when they screen their customers for mental illness. When people purchase health or life insurance products, the companies often search the purchasers’ medical records on the National Health Insurance Administration database.
If records of psychiatric care are found, the insurance provider often refuses the sale on the pretext of a “pre-existing condition.” This is ironic and disheartening, especially given that Taiwanese society has made such progress in acknowledging the significance of seeking and receiving care for mental health.
Setting aside the serious mental illnesses of psychosis, bipolar disorder and dementia, the pressures of working in modern businesses and dealing with highly developed and ever-changing industries have made mental health stress a large part of life. It is inevitable that many people would seek help from a psychiatrist for even a mild mental health condition, including emotional disorder, adjustment disorder or temporary sleep disorder, which can result from working in shifts.
When people look after their mental health by seeking medical assistance, it ultimately reduces the cost and burden to society. People should be encouraged to see a psychiatrist if needed.
Insurance companies, however, often reject potential clients who have a record of seeking such care. This violates a person’s rights and interests, while stigmatizing psychiatry and mental health professions.
The government must do its best to stop such discrimination in the insurance industry, which itself must make greater efforts to keep up with the times.
Wu Chao-tsong is a psychiatrist living in Changhua County.
Translated by Liu Yi-hung
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS