The roots of this crisis are readily found: firstly, in the 15 years since its establishment the number of elderly people covered has ballooned from 1.63 million in 1995 to 2.4 million in 2008. Medical expenses for the elderly are on average 3.3 times that of the general population, and so this increase alone is placing a massive strain on the system.
首先是過去 15 年，台灣的老年人口增加了 47 %，從健保開辦時（1995 年）的 163 萬人增加為 2008 年的 240 萬人，而老人的平均醫療費用是一般人的 3.3 倍，光這部份就負擔暴增。