A Comparative Analysis of the Health Care Reform in China and Taiwan.

The competing political, economic, and social systems in the two Chinese societies, China and Taiwan, represent an enlightening opportunity for a comparative analysis. This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis of the health care reforms that have been happening in both China and Taiwan. About half century has passed after the founding of the People?s Republic of China (PRC). During this half century, PRC has experienced a great political, economic, and social transformation. The health care system has also gone through dramatic changes. Taiwan has not gone through such dramatic transformation in its health care system. But after the 1970s, three major trends occurred: the gradual decline of the public sector in both medical and health arena; the medicalization of the public health programs and institutions; and the corporatization of the medical care providers. The health care reforms in China and Taiwan examined in this paper reveal similarities and differences in the transformation experienced by the two Chinese societies. The comparative analyses of these two reforms in these two societies provide important theoretical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]