Taiwan tops the expat health care charts

Nearly seven in 10 expats in Taiwan say they spend less on health care than they used to before moving – compared with a global average of just three in 10.

The FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] states in its guide to the country: “As is to be expected of a nation as developed as Taiwan, health care facilities and medical equipment are of outstanding quality. Since 1995, Taiwan has had a socialised health care plan, the National Health Insurance (NHI) which covers nearly all citizens.”

- The Telegraph

My thoughts: Of course the survey is biased, in particular a lot of selection bias. Its respondents are not randomized, so you don't get a good representation. Also, the more important question is do you get quality health care for your dollars spent, however much less you do have to spend? That was a major debate in the comments section... I wish I had more time to look into this more, but some anecdotal "evidence," I've heard from friends who've spent time in Taiwan that you do get decent healthcare in Taiwan. I don't think anyone can beat the technology and innovation of the U.S., but we already know that U.S. health care system is far from being a model one.

Also, this is another piece of real life evidence that a country can be non-socialist and still have a socialist health care finance structure and not combust into a complete socialist government. So surprising! (Not.)

“You don’t train someone for all of those years of medical school and residency, particularly people who want to help others optimize their physical and psychological health, and then have them run a claims-processing operation for insurance companies.”

 — Malcolm Gladwell, from Forbes’ "Tell People What it’s Really Like to be a Physician"

It was really hard picking one section to quote because I loved almost every line of this article. <3 Malcolm Gladwell. Is he married?? Lol, joking.