Table Of ContentFamilial
Foundations
of the
Welfare
State
Building the National
Health Insurance Systems
in South Korea and Taiwan
Hye Suk Wang
Familial Foundations of the Welfare State
Hye Suk Wang
Familial Foundations
of the Welfare State
Building the National Health Insurance Systems
in South Korea and Taiwan
Hye Suk Wang
Yonsei University
Seoul, Korea (Republic of)
ISBN 978-3-319-58711-0 ISBN 978-3-319-58712-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58712-7
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A
cknowledgements
Some might wonder about the page for the acknowledgement and
appreciation, which might be too big for my work. I, as well, consider
spending my time for such pages as pretty presumptuous. However, one
important reason has made me devote myself writing these pages; I have
had so much help from countless people and organizations. This book
would have not been finished if I worked all alone. The page, therefore,
shall also be the confession of my feeling of helplessness and of despair
during the field works and the actual time of writing the book.
As this book derives from my doctoral research, first gratitude should
go to the institutions which supported my research. I have received
generous help as a Ph.D. candidate when I completed the disserta-
tion. First, I would like to express my warm appreciation for those who
have financially supported me during my fieldwork. POSCO TJ Park
Foundation has supported my travel fee and the money required for my
nine-month of fieldwork. The organization also encouraged my situation
as a Korean researcher who has always been interested in Asian regional
studies. Furthermore, the 6-month of Taiwan Fellowship from MOFA
of Taiwan has provided me with the critical networks for me to exchange
the information with Taiwanese researchers far fetching beyond the mere
fieldwork. Finally, Lee Min-ju Scholarship from Yonsei University has
furnished the environment for me to complete my fieldwork, which had
gone too far beyond the expected time period.
I also appreciate Prof. Kuo-Hsien Su and Prof. Kuo-Ming Lin
of Department of Sociology of the National Taiwan University,
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao of Academia Sinica, and all the graduate stu-
dents of the Department of Sociology, the National Taiwan University
who have warmly welcomed me. My life and conversations with them
for a year have given me a great chance to acknowledge the bond of
sympathy that the contemporary scholars could share, going beyond the
regional background of East Asia. By expressing my deepest appreciation
for all the research foundations and organizations, which have supported
my research during my two-year-long of field research, I hope the book
could be a little compensation for their hospitality.
I also want to thank my friends who are currently enrolled in their
masters and PhDs in sociology department, graduate school of Yonsei
University, who have shared the research center in Widang building for a
long time. Also, the life of the female PhDs from my department, whom
I would call the top 1% intellectuals of Korea, has evinced that love for
family and passion for learning are the two sides of the same coin. It also
confirmed to me that the story I have expressed in this book is not only
about my life but also about everyone’s.
Further, my gratitude goes to the professors of sociology department
in Yonsei University who have instructed me for a long time from my
undergraduate life until the time I get my Ph.D. Especially I feel that
I have fell into a great debt for those who have been the members of
my dissertation committee: Prof. Yong-Hak Kim, and Prof. Wang-Bae
Kim. Also, Prof. Kyung-zoon Hong and Prof. Mee-Sook Lee, who have
instructed me as my assistant judges despite being an utter stranger to
me, affirmed that the value of reciprocity is not a mere past but an old
future that can still remain as an ethical and academic resource in the
modern society.
No word would dare to fully express my feeling of appreciation for my
supervisor, Prof. Seok-Choon Lew. I shall make the analogy for him with
the shoulder that my research stands on, and that I would never dare to
climb up, simultaneously. My further appreciation shall now go towards
my research community 529 thanks to Prof. Seok-Choon Lew who has
introduced me to the community. My 10-year experience with them has
further affirmed me that not every organization is a market or a hierar-
chy.
I would like to further express my appreciation to my husband
Lung-ta Wei. He has continuously given this amateur researcher on
Taiwan, his hand to discover and to understand necessary materials for
understanding the Taiwanese society from the period of my fieldwork.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii
Also, he has meticulously proofread my dissertation in regard with the
parts on Taiwan, and his comments should authorize him as an unofficial
co-author of the book. In preparing the final draft, I have the fortune
to have Kyu-Eun Kim and Min Hyeong Ki to provide a proofreading.
Also, Sarah from Macmillan deserves my appreciation for contacting me,
an utter stranger in East Asia, encouraging, and leading me to bravely
decide my dissertation-level work to be published in the world’s aca-
demic field.
Finally, I shall show my deepest gratitude for my family, who has
patiently waited for my graduation and completion of my Ph.D. I had
only one nephew when I started the research, but now I have four nieces
and nephews in total; my parents’ frowns have deepened; and my grand-
mother passed away right before her 100th birthday. Family is the big-
gest keyword throughout this book. The macro role of family, as an
invisible hand, which structures a state’s official system going beyond the
micro level of taking care of incompetent family members in private area
has been dealt with throughout my work. My personal acknowledge-
ment on the mighty power of family as I aged upon has played an impor-
tant role in deciding the theme of the book. In this sense, I dedicate this
book to my family who has full-heartedly supported me throughout the
process of writing the dissertation. Furthermore, I now have one more
hope for the book to be consumed. It shall be my greater pleasure when
Korean families would have a better understanding on Taiwan, the home
country of my husband, my new family.
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Welfare Politics: Building Welfare Institutions 19
3 (De-)Familialization in Social Policy in East Asia 41
4 Historical Development of NHI in S. Korea: Why
not Equal Protection for Female Workers’ Families? 73
5 Historical Development of NHI in Taiwan:
De-familialization Path of Welfare Politics 107
6 Conclusion 139
References 147
Index 149
ix
k t A
ey erms And bbreviAtions
Dependents (Taiwan)/ (S. Korea)
Bureau of National Health
Insurance (Taiwan)
Civil Servant Dependent
Health Insurance
Civil Servant Insurance (Taiwan)
Department of Health,
Executive Yuan (Taiwan)
National Health Insurance
Corporation (S. Korea)
The National Health Insurance
Statistics (Taiwan)/
(S. Korea)
Mainlanders
Taiwanese
Aboriginal Taiwanese
Han Chinese ( )
Labor Insurance (Taiwan)
Minnan ( )
Hakka ( )
Chinese Cultural Renaissance
Summaries of Population
and Housing Census
in Taiwan-Fukien
Area
(Taiwan)
xi
xii KEY TERMS AND ABBREvIATIONS
Department of Government
Employees’ Insurance, Central
Trust of China (Taiwan)
Social Indicators (Taiwan)
Annual Statistics on Human
Resources ( ) (Taiwan)
Bureau of Labor Insurance (Taiwan)
KMT Kuomintang (Taiwan)
DGBAS Directorate General of Budget, Accounting
and Statistics, Executive Yuan
(Taiwan)
KOSIS Korea Statistical Information Service
(S. Korea)
