Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ASCO Annual Meeting 2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

2024 ASCO Annual Meeting

Keep up to date with all the top stories and latest evidence with our hub page, including official congress videos and expert takeaways.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
International Journal of Public Health
Published in: International Journal of Public Health 4/2013

01-08-2013 | Original Article

Out-of-pocket expenditures on traditional and Western medicine in Taiwan

Authors: Steven T. Yen, Hung-Hao Chang, Tsui-Fang Lin

Published in: International Journal of Public Health | Issue 4/2013

Login to get access

Abstract

Objectives

Coexistence of traditional and modern medicine is common in Asian countries. This paper investigates out-of-pocket expenditures on traditional medicine, traditional medical service, and Western medicine by households in Taiwan.

Methods

Using a national sample of 13,765 households, the three expenditure equations are estimated with a censored system procedure. Effects of socio-demographic variables are explored by calculating marginal effects on probabilities and levels of medical expenses.

Results

Different types of medical expenditures are correlated. Households with higher income and more aging members use more traditional medicine than others, as do households in agricultural sector and in urban areas. In addition, households living in rural areas relative to those in the cities are more likely to use and also spend more on traditional service. Regional disparity of health care utilization is found.

Conclusions

Higher income households spend more on traditional medicine, likely due to the fact that patients usually pay out-of-pocket for herbal materials needed in preparation of traditional medicine. To ensure equity in health care utilization, establishment of hospitals and clinics in rural areas should be considered.
Literature
Amemiya T (1974) Multivariate regression and simultaneous equation models when the dependent variables are truncated normal. Econometrica 42(6):999–1012CrossRef
Arabmazar A, Schmidt P (1981) Further evidence on the robustness of the Tobit estimator to heteroskedasticity. J Econom 17(2):253–258CrossRef
Arabmazar A, Schmidt P (1982) An investigation of the robustness of the Tobit estimator to non-normality. Econometrica 50(4):1055–1063CrossRef
Burbidge JB, Magee L, Robb AL (1988) Alternative transformations to handle extreme values of the dependent variable. J Am Statist Assn 83:123–127CrossRef
Bureau of National Health Insurance Program (BNHI) (2010) National Health Insurance in Taiwan. Bureau of National Health Insurance, Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan
Chan MF, Mok E, Wong YS, Tong TF, Day MC, Tang CKY, Wong HC (2003) Attitudes of Hong Kong Chinese to traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine: survey and cluster analysis. Complement Ther Med 11(2):103–109PubMedCrossRef
Chen F, Chen T, Kung Y, Chen Y, Chou L, Chen F, Hwang S (2007) Use frequency of traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan. BMC Health Serv Res 7:1–11CrossRef
Cheng TM (2003) Taiwan’s new national health insurance program: genesis and experience so far. Health Aff 22(3):61–76CrossRef
Chi C (1994) Integrating traditional medicine into modern health care systems: examining the role of Chinese medicine in Taiwan. Soc Sci Med 39(3):307–321PubMedCrossRef
Chi C, Lee JL, Lai JS, Chen CY, Chang SK, Chen SC (1996) The practice of Chinese medicine in Taiwan. Soc Sci Med 43(9):1329–1348PubMedCrossRef
Chu TB, Liu TC, Chen CS, Tsai YW, Chiu WT (2005) Household out-of-pocket medical expenditures and national health insurance in Taiwan: income and regional inequality. BMC Health Serv Res 5:1–9CrossRef
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) (2006) Report on the survey of family income and expenditure in Taiwan area of Republic of China
Heckman JJ (1979) Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica 47(1):153–161CrossRef
Jones AM (2000) Health econometrics. In: Gulyer AJ, Newhouse JP (eds) Chap 6: Handbook of health economics, vol 1. Amsterdam, North-Holland, pp 265–344
Lankford RH, Wyckoff JH (1991) Modeling charitable giving using a Box-Cox standard Tobit model. Rev of Econ Stat 73(3):460–470CrossRef
Lee MC, Jones AM (2007) Understanding differences in income-related health inequality between geographic regions in Taiwan using the SF-36. Health Policy 83(2–3):186–195PubMedCrossRef
Liao HL, Ma TC, Chiu YL, Chen JT, Chang YS (2008) Factors influencing the purchasing behavior of TCM outpatients in Taiwan. J Altern Complement Med 14(6):741–748PubMedCrossRef
Lim MK, Sadarangani P, Chan HL, Heng JY (2005) Complementary and alternative medicine use in multiracial Singapore. Complement Ther Med 13(1):16–24PubMedCrossRef
Lu JF, Leung GM, Kwon S, Tin KY, Van Doorslaer E, O’Donnell O (2007) Horizontal equality in health care utilization evidence from three high-income. Asian Econ Soc Sci Med 64(1):199–212CrossRef
Ma GX (1999) Between two worlds: the use of traditional and Western health services by Chinese immigrants. J Community Health 24(6):421–437PubMedCrossRef
Miltiades HB, Wu B (2008) Factors affecting physician visits in Chinese and Chinese immigrant samples. Soc Sci Med 66(3):704–714PubMedCrossRef
Ransom MR (1987) A comment on consumer demand systems with binding non-negativity constraints. J Econom 34(3):335–359CrossRef
Rao CR (1973) Linear statistical inference and its applications, 2d edn. Wiley, New YorkCrossRef
Shih SF, Lew-Ting CY, Chang HY, Kuo KN (2008) Insurance covered and non-covered complementary and alternative medicine utilization among adults in Taiwan. Soc Sci Med 67(7):1183–1189PubMedCrossRef
Vuong QH (1989) Likelihood ratio tests for model selection and nonnested hypotheses. Econometrica 57(2):307–333CrossRef
Wales TJ, Woodland AD (1983) Estimation of consumer demand systems with binding non-negativity constraints. J Econom 21(3):263–285CrossRef
Yen ST, Tang C, Su S (2001) Demand for traditional medicine in Taiwan: a mixed Gaussian-Poisson model approach. Health Econ 10(3):221–232PubMedCrossRef
Metadata
Title
Out-of-pocket expenditures on traditional and Western medicine in Taiwan
Authors
Steven T. Yen
Hung-Hao Chang
Tsui-Fang Lin
Publication date
01-08-2013
Publisher
Springer Basel
Published in
International Journal of Public Health / Issue 4/2013
Print ISSN: 1661-8556
Electronic ISSN: 1661-8564
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00038-012-0428-z

Other articles of this Issue 4/2013

International Journal of Public Health 4/2013 Go to the issue

Original Article

Secular trends in the association between nativity/length of US residence with body mass index and waist circumference among Mexican-Americans, 1988–2008

Original Article

Income and individual deprivation as predictors of health over time

Original Article

Back Pain and Body Posture Evaluation Instrument (BackPEI): development, content validation and reproducibility

Brief Report

Goal attainment scaling as a tool to enhance quality in community-based health promotion

Original Article

Health behavior change among breast cancer patients

Review

Objectively measured walkability and active transport and weight-related outcomes in adults: a systematic review