Taiwan's society is on the path towards democracy. In Taiwan's diverse society, public opinion reveals different understandings of the "state-society" nexus. Consequently, the concept of the state and political power are delineated from each other. The process of democratization affects the relationship between politics and the medical care system. Examining the relationship between politics and medical care in the 1980s, we can detect two concurrent trends in the relationship between "stateand society": first, national medical care intervened in society; second, the medical community resisted the influence of politics. Therefore, politics and medical care are interwoven and affect each other. These relations between medical care and politics in Taiwan were all features of Taiwan's democratization process. The present discourse on the relation between politics and medical care also indicates that many problems still remain unresolved as Taiwan's democracy progresses. For example, the political inftuence on medical care demonstrates that social issues tend to be over politicized in Taiwan. If this is a sign that democratization still remains immature, it also indicates that“real democracy" is still far away from us.