Medical insurers say too few people have policies that cover them for outpatient as well as hospital care.
Of 2.5 million people insured by individual and group medical insurance last year, just 100,000 had full cover, the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers says.
'This is way too low,' the chairwoman of the federation's health-care reform taskforce, Manlo Cheung, said yesterday. 'People do not have the incentive to buy [full policies] as they are well covered by the public health-care system.'
The insurance sector paid out $3.75 billion in medical claims last year, 15 per cent more than 2003.
Ms Cheung said that if the number of fully insured people grew, premiums could fall and conditions now excluded from most policies - such as chronic illness and mental disease - could be covered.
'An average annual premium of $5,000 to $7,000 is required for complete medical insurance, but if the pool of insured members gets bigger, there will be room for a reduction in premium,' she said.
'With sufficient numbers to share costs and risks, a broader coverage can be offered at affordable premium, some risks that are presently excluded may then be covered.' More than 90 per cent of chronically ill and mental patients are outside the private sector because of premium levels.