Insurers jumping aboard Hong Kong’s new private health care programme – with tax breaks and coverage up to age 100
- Participants will be offered HK$8,000 in tax incentives per family member to join new govern-inspired private plans
- 1.5 million Hongkongers expected to buy coverage through the new programme over next three years
Big international and local insurance players – including AXA, AIA and Cigna – are jumping aboard Hong Kong’s big new push to create affordable private medical coverage and take pressure off the city’s overburden public medical system.
Eleven insurance companies contacted by the South China Morning Post confirmed that they have been approved to join the city’s HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) new health insurance programme, which kicks off on April 1. The others are Manulife, Prudential, Zurich, FWD, Bupa, BOC Life, FTLife and Bowtie.
Under the new Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) – seen as a milestone in health care in the city – participants will get an annual HK$8,000 tax break per family member put on the plan.
Hong Kong residents – totalling about 7.3 million people – have access to public medical coverage, which includes doctor visits at clinics, hospitalisations and surgeries. Taxpayer dollars cover 90 per cent of costs, meaning some operations might cost one-tenth as much as at private hospitals.
The city public hospitals are swamped by people needing medical attention, meaning non-urgent surgeries may be delayed up to years. Meanwhile, clinic visits may take many hours of waiting.
The government-backed VHIS hopes to alleviate some of that stress by offering those of higher means tax incentives to buy into the private system.