臺大公衛學院為加強宣導本院教師之學術成果，進而提升本院國際能見度，由葉明叡老師之撰寫下列文章投稿至ASPPH Friday Letter. 

該文目前已刊登於 ASPPH Friday Letter, July 5, 2024

The Ordinary Virtue and Moral Significance of Health Systems: The Case of Taiwan

AUTHOR

Ming-Jui Yeh ✉️ (本所專任教師 葉明叡助理教授) 

JOURNAL  International Journal of Taiwan Studies

PUBLISHED  2024.05.20

ABSTRACT

The ordinary virtue of health systems is to secure some form of equitable access to health services for all in pursuit of the ideal of universal health coverage, which would sometimes be considered an integral part of the overall institutional arrangements protecting the human right to health. The history of human-established health systems has come close to an end. In this article, I use the Taiwanese health system as an illustrative case to demonstrate how the roles of a health system vary in different periods across multiple colonial histories. It was not until the 1990s, after Taiwan went through democratisation, that the health system began to display ordinary virtue. I further argue that, beyond the ordinary virtue, the Taiwanese health system has moral significance in (1) integrating divided and conflicting identities and forging a new, forward-looking one; and (2) representing Taiwanese people’s declaration against exclusionary global politics by devoting themselves to a space that protects the right to health and a way of life that cherishes the value of equitable access to health services for all.

KEYWORD

policy; welfare; health reform; universal health coverage; colonialism; National Health Insurance