中華民國於1995年實施的全民健康保險已給付中醫門診，目前重要的相關政策議題包括：保險對中醫門診需求的影響，中西醫門診間的替代或互補關係，中醫門診的部份負擔額度，以及中醫院所的特約幅度。本研究嘗試以中醫門診患者為樣本來作部份解答。研究結果顯示中醫門診病人存在明顯的複向求醫行為。對於所有的中醫門診病人而言，中醫門診的時間彈性係數為 -0.260， 無保險者的價格彈性為 -0.197， 有保險者的自付額彈性為-0.100，對西醫門診價格的交叉彈性為 -0.005，所得彈性未達顯著水準。 對於同時使用中西醫門診的中醫門診病人而言， 中醫門診的時間彈性為 -0.361， 無保險者的價格彈性為-0.293， 有保險者的自付額彈性為 -0.149，所得彈性和對西醫門診價格的交叉彈性未達統計相關水準。保險政策欲單獨以高額部份負擔來抑制中醫門診需求的效果可能有限，且本研究中並未發現中西醫門診使用之間存在互補性或替代性關係的證據。中醫門診的時間彈性大於價格彈性則為值得重視的數據。

　　　　　The new National Health Insurance (NHI) program of Taiwan that wasimplemented in 1995 now covers Chinese medicine ambulatory care. A major concernof this coverage is whether and how much the NHI will affect the demand forChinese medicine. Moreover, the relationship between the demand for Chinese andmodern Western medicine is likely to affect the net change in the demand forboth. This study, based on a national sample interview, examines whether thedemand for Chinese medicine ambulatory care is a complement or a substitute forambulatorycare in modern Western medicine. Based on theresults of this study,the authors also try to predict the future demand for Chinese medicineambulatory care. Results from this study suggest that there is little evidencethat the demand for ambulatory care in Chinese medicine and modern Westernmedicine are related, as was shown by the low cross elasticity (-0.005) betweenthe two. Furthermore, the data indicates that there is a low price elasticity ofdemand for Chinese medicine, which suggests that relying on cost-sharing aloneto prevent the overuse of Chinese medicine ambulatory care may not be veryeffective. Another new finding of this study is that time, which has a higherelasticity of demand than price, is an important factor in predicting demand forChinese medicine.