Subsidise poor and charge the rich more for medical services: former Hong Kong Hospital Authority chief Edward Leong
‘King of public service’ says he expects strong opposition to his idea, but insists it is a way to help city’s overburdened medical sector
Hongkongers should be prepared to pay more for medical care if they can afford it, the former chief of the city’s main provider of public health care has said, adding that this would solve the problem of overstretched government hospitals and long waiting times for consultations.
Dr Edward Leong Che-hung, who has headed multiple public sector agencies including the Hospital Authority from 2002 to 2004, reiterated his long-standing call for means testing and “targeted subsidies”.
“If you are poor, we subsidise you more; if you are rich, we subsidise you less,” Leong said, adding that Singapore had adopted a similar system.
His comments came in an interview on his new book, titled The Triumph of Rationality: From Surgical Practice to Public Service.
Leong said that while “nobody should be devoid of proper care because of lack of means”, it is a problem for the city’s public health care system that rich and poor pay the same. Care fees are waived for the city’s very poorest.
“No matter how rich you are, you can still use the heavily subsidised public service – that’s a problem,” said Leong, widely known as the “king of public service”.
His younger brother, Professor John Leong Chi-yan, now heads the Hospital Authority.