Hong Kong authorities to enhance healthcare vouchers for elderly, including allowing couples to share balances from July
- Measure introduced to encourage couples to use full amount allocated to them as unspent balance hits HK$4 billion in 2022
- Elderly will also get an extra $500 added to their accounts when they spend $1,000, effectively increasing the subsidy to $2,500
In a paper submitted to the city’s legislature, the Health Bureau outlined four measures to enhance the scheme.
“Currently, the healthcare voucher scheme does not have any measures to incentivise the use of the vouchers for specific purporses, and any mechanism to monitor the relevant services,” the paper said.
“Therefore, it could not effectively achieve the policy objective of strengthening the disease prevention and health management of the elderly.”
As of May 2023, more than 11,600 healthcare providers have registered with the scheme, and close to 1.56 million elderly have used the vouchers, accounting for 97 per cent of the total eligible population.
In 2022, the amount of vouchers claimed stood at around HK$2.5 billion, a decrease from HK$2.8 billion in 2018.
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But the unspent balance of healthcare vouchers kept increasing over the same period, with more than HK$4 billion unspent in 2022.
First announced in the policy address last year, the new measure to allow spouses to share each other’s vouchers aimed at helping couples to use them conveniently.
According to the preliminary plan, elderly couples would need to visit a healthcare provider together, present their identity cards and declare their marital status, to register. Their voucher accounts would then be linked until one of them made a written application to quit.
When one spouse has used up the HK$2,000 in their personal account, he or she could start using the subsidy in their partner’s account.
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The government would also introduce an SMS notification system, to alert couples when there is a balance deduction from their voucher accounts.
The paper consent forms would also be replaced with electronic ones.
In addition, the government will roll out a three-year pilot scheme as soon as the fourth quarter of this year.
Under the pilot scheme, when they have spent HK$1,000, an additional HK$500 will be added to their accounts. The money can be used for designated health services, mainly disease prevention and health management.
That means the annual voucher amount could be increased from the existing HK$2,000 to HK$2,500.
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The designated services included health assessment, check-ups, screening, immunisation, prescriptions for preventive drugs, and treating chronic illnesses.
Certain dental services, including check-ups, scaling, extraction and filling, were also on the list.
The bonus scheme would also apply to the chronic disease co-care pilot plan set to launch in the fourth quarter, as well as multiple health management programmes at district health centres.
Under the co-care scheme, residents at high risk of hypertension or diabetes will be identified at district health centres, which would refer them to a private practitioner for screening and treatment, with a partial subsidy from the government.
The government is also studying the feasibility of allowing Hongkongers living in mainland cities in the Greater Bay Area to pay the public health insurance with their vouchers.
