Tsang must dig deeper for poor and elderly
I refer to the report “(Tsang needs to do more for city’s poor”, February 15).
The community group has rightly urged the financial secretary to help the elderly and badly housed in Wednesday’s budget. People have suggested the government should set aside an extra HK$25.6 billion for welfare, medical and education spending. It is expected to have substantial reserves this year and can afford to allocate these funds for a good cause.
Regarding a pension scheme, many views have already been expressed in the press. I suggest three options.
First, raise the present Old Age Living Allowance (OALA) of HK$2,390 per month to a minimum of HK$5,000. It is a fact that the existing amount is largely insufficient even for a single person to live comfortably in an expensive city such as Hong Kong.
Second, make the universal pension scheme financially sustainable in the long term, raise the qualifying age from 65 to 70 years for new applicants. The existing OALA recipients should continue to receive the present amount till they attain the age of 70 years. Henceforth, all Hong Kong residents above 70, rich or poor, should qualify to receive the decent amount of HK$5,000 a month. This would also meet the public expectations.
Third, the amount of health care vouchers for elderly above 70 should be raised from the present HK$2,000 a year to HK$5,000. This would allow patients to get some expensive, but urgent, diagnostic tests done at private hospitals whenever necessary; there is a long waiting list in public hospitals.