By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Different expectations about medical services in Taiwan and China could represent a great challenge for Taiwan with the Chinese free independent travelers (FIT) program, a cross-strait medical service provider said yesterday.
“More than a reasonable fraction of hospitalized Chinese tourists intentionally extend their stay in Taiwanese hospitals, which have long been known for top-notch medical services,” International SOS general manager Keynes Chen (陳楷植) said.
“They even invited family members and relatives to come to Taiwan and visit them in hospital so they could brag about it,” he said.
Meanwhile, most Taiwanese clients of the international healthcare and security company asked to return home as soon as possible after falling ill in China, Chen said.
Following the launch of the FIT program on June 28, an increasing number of Chinese tourists could mean more trouble for Taiwanese hospitals, which have had difficulty collecting medical bills from Chinese patients, Chen said.
Although he did not have the numbers for uncollected debt from Chinese patients, Chen said the number could be “alarming.”
The insurance coverage rate in Taiwan reaches 200 percent, which means two premiums for every citizen, Chen said. In China, the coverage rate is about 10 percent, which explains why the medical debt in China is so high, he said.
In negotiations with China, Taiwan has requested that Chinese travelers purchase overseas travel insurance to ensure medical bills will be paid if they are admitted to a hospital, Bureau of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said before the first group of FITs arrived.
However, Shih said both sides failed to reach agreement during the sixth round of negotiations between Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林).
Taiwan will make the request again during a working group meeting this month or next to discuss the Cross-Strait Agreement on Medical and Health Cooperation, which was signed in December.