Generous health-insurance coverage may encourage hospitals to acquire and employ more advanced medical technologies. The authors examine the effects of Taiwan's 1995 implementation of National Health Insurance on technology adoption, ownership, and use by comparing changes in adoption,...

Objectives To estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for alternative forms of weight-control treatment and evaluate how it varies with individual characteristics.Methods Contingent valuation (CV) survey of employed females in Taiwan using double-bounded dichotomous-choice question format and...

Two surveys conducted in Taiwan during the spring 2003 SARS epidemic reveal a high degree of concern about the threat posed by SARS to Taiwan and to residents, although respondents believe they are knowledgeable about the risk of SARS and that it is susceptible to individual control. WTP to...

We evaluate the effects of disease type and latency on willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce environmental risks of chronic, degenerative disease. Using contingent-valuation data collected from approximately 1,200 respondents in Taiwan, we find that WTP declines with latency between exposure to...

The effect of new health information on individuals' expectations about their longevity is examined using a Bayesian learning model. Using two-period panel-structured survey data from Taiwan, we find that subjective probabilities of living to age 75 and 85 are significantly smaller for...

By reducing risk of large out-of-pocket medical expenses, comprehensive social health insurance may reduce households' motivation to engage in precautionary behaviors such as saving, procurement of private insurance, and spousal labor-force participation. We use the natural experiment provided...