The nation’s healthcare system is being controlled by large corporations, which has led to hospitals persuing profit over medical breakthroughs, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said, adding that unless he becomes president, it is unlikely that politicians would reform the system.
Ko made the comments on Thursday night in the first episode of a new political talk show, Talk to Taiwan.
“The nation’s healthcare system is not as efficient as it should be, because it is under the control of large corporations, which causes hospitals to operate in a commercialized way, so patients often do not receive the best treatment,” Ko said.
Asked if this trend could be overturned, Ko, a former physician at the National Taiwan University Hospital, said: “Not unless I become president.”
He said the system pays doctors according to the amount of medicine they prescribe, or the number of hours they work, but he believes that they should be paid by the number of patients they see.
“Everyone knows this should be changed. No one is willing to do it,” Ko said.
When asked whether he thinks the National Health Insurance (NHI) system should be adjusted toward a public welfare or an insurance system, Ko said that either scenario is fine.
“So long as everyone is realistic and it is not made free of charge. There is no such thing as a free lunch,” Ko said.
He said he is more inclined to cut benefits provided by the system and let it operate under an insurance scheme, lest it go bankrupt.
Using as an example his plan to push for annuity reform — starting with the cancelation of Double Nine Day monetary gifts to high-income families — Ko said that all government-backed insurance is bound to go bankrupt, but politicians do not address the issue because of concerns that slashing people’s benefits would make their approval ratings suffer.
Ko said that even if canceling the monetary gift would incur the criticism of Taipei city councilors, he would be willing to take the blame.
“Some Taipei city councilors berate me for the policies I propose, but when they are done, they tell me in private to keep pushing those policies,” Ko said.
“I used to say that the Taipei City Council is the Roman Colosseum. Now I find that it is more like an opera house, because there are a lot of tenors and sopranos there. It is all a show,” he said.
Ko said it is unlikely that the nation can implement a system that protects doctors in the case of accidental injury or death of a patient during surgery, because: “Taiwanese do not know how to forgive.”
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