New health plan may lead to loss of benefits

Bosses may cease providing health insurance plans for their workers after the government standardises the city's medical insurance products in an upcoming reform, according to a legislator and a professor.

And employees may lose the right to claim clinic and non-hospital bills under group insurance plans bought by their companies.

This could be one result of a Health Protection Scheme (HPS) proposed by the government that would raise the price of individual medical insurance plans, said lawmaker Chan Kin-por and professor Peter Yuen Pok-man of Polytechnic University.

"The scheme is not likely to attract employers currently providing varying types of health insurance plans to migrate their plans to HPS," Yuen said. He quoted a 2011 survey of 409 companies from 10 business sectors covering 35,678 employees that indicated most employers' group health plans covered their staff for both outpatient and hospital benefits.

This meant workers could now claim some or all of their bills for private clinic visits, dental care or other health services. While the minimum requirements of the upcoming HPS proposal would not cover such expenses, minimum cover for hospitalisation and some ambulatory procedures would be wider, pushing up prices.

Currently, about 20 per cent of local workers are insured by their companies under a group plan.