Is the national single payer system expensive to administer?
It costs Taiwan’s Bureau of National Health Insurance about 1.5 percent of the premiums they collect to administer the program. Since the government pays this minimal cost out of general revenues, 100 percent of all premiums collected is paid out to providers. It’s worth comparing that with our private insurance system: it was a struggle just to write into the recent health reform law a requirement that individual- and small-group plans pay out to providers at least 80 percent, and large group plans at least 85 percent, of the premiums they collect. That means it was a fight to set a standard for private insurers in the U.S. just to limit their administrative costs, executive salaries and bureaucracy to no more than 15-20 percent! Do people have choice of doctors and other providers? Yes, people can go to whichever doctor they choose. 92 percent of all providers in the country contract with the Bureau of National Health Insurance.
