Provide lifelong health cover for your newborns, Hong Kong government tells young parents as it prepares to launch Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme
- Initiative which rolls out on April 1 expected to cost about HK$2,000 a year and cover all diseases except congenital illnesses
- Government hopes up to 1.5 million Hongkongers will buy private health care insurance in the next three years
The government is hoping to appeal to young parents in Hong Kong with a new voluntary medical insurance scheme under which newborns as young as 15 days old can get health coverage until they are 100 years old, the Post has learned.
The premium for the baby insurance package, accredited by the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS), was expected to cost about HK$2,000 a year and would cover all diseases with the exception of congenital illnesses, a government source said.
Rolling out the scheme on April 1, the government hopes up to 1.5 million Hongkongers – especially those from the middle-class – will buy private health care insurance in the next three years, steering them away from the overloaded public health service.
A consultancy released on Friday by the Food and Health Bureau estimated the ratio of inpatients at public hospitals could be reduced by 5 per cent by 2040 if the scheme reached these targets.
The private sector would see a 35 per cent rise in demand after the scheme, the report added.
