3.1.3. Lack of health insurance coverage
Most respondents indicated that one of the factors affecting the public acceptance of the telecare service is that it is not covered by the National Health Insurance. Since health insurance is convenient for the people, even paying a small amount of money leads to concerns. People tend to question having to pay extra fees for telecare despite having paid for health insurance. Many people participated in the telecare pilot project because of the free service. However, once the free trial period lapsed, they quitter due to the extra charges. Twelve of the healthcare providers pointed out that the expenses of setting up the telecare service are quite high; however, the current National Health Insurance does not cover telecare. The lack of resources and funding makes it difficult to support institutions to set up or develop diversified distant measurement equipment, especially for small regional hospitals. Most organizations are reluctant to invest in the development of telecare because of the high costs. In addition, due to the high cost of manpower, cost of setting up and operating the system, as well as a limited business income from the telecare service, and the fact that the profits need to be allocated among many executives running the organization, it is difficult to maintain a financial balance and to continue the operation of telecare. In addition, telecare business increases workload for physicians, but the hospital does not receive insurance income to award incentives to the physicians, which is another factor influence the physicians’ reluctance to participate in such a service.