Non-urgent patients seeking help at the city's public accident and emergency wards are set to pay more than double the current rate as part of the government's revamp on healthcare charges, with the new fees taking effect over three phases starting on January 1, 2026.

The comprehensive reform will also see fee adjustments for other services, such as hospital stays and consultations at specialist and family medicine outpatient clinics.

But the administration is planning to cap charges at HK$10,000 for each patient every year. It also pledged to make it easier for eligible people to apply for a fee waiver.

Health minister Lo Chung-mau said the fee reform was meant to offer more help for the underprivileged and those with severe illnesses.

He stressed that the extra revenue - estimated at some HK$3 billion each year for the initial phase - will go back into public hospital services.

Under the proposal, public A&E departments will charge patients depending on their condition, instead of the current flat rate of HK$180.

Critical and emergency cases will be treated for free, while the rest will have to pay HK$400 per visit.

The authorities are also introducing a "co-payment model" to charge patients between HK$50 and HK$500 for advanced and highly complicated pathology and non-urgent imaging tests.

But basic check-ups with high demand will remain free.

Fees for medicine from specialist and family medicine outpatient clinics will also be adjusted, while patients will be prescribed no more than four weeks' worth of drugs each time.

The changes are expected to lower the government's subsidy ratio for public hospital services from 97.6 percent to about 90 percent, which officials said remains a high level.

"Past experience showed that after this kind of structure review, a certain percentage of patients…they are more inclined to see alternative methods of care," said Hospital Authority chief executive Tony Ko.

"This enables us to have more capability to reserve our manpower resources to take care of the patients who really need emergency and accidents, and urgent care."

At the same time, the government will relax the income and asset requirements to qualify for a fee waiver. About 1.4 million people are expected to benefit after the tweak, up from 300,000.

The HK$10,000 annual fee cap, meanwhile, is estimated to help about 70,000 chronic or severely-ill patients who visit hospitals frequently.

Thomas Chan, permanent secretary for health, is confident that the government is able to shoulder the financial burden.

"This is to provide another protection for all Hong Kong citizens who may or may not be eligible to apply for medical waivers, but we will assure them that under this public subsidisation reform, they would not be required to pay an amount that is unaffordable," Chan said.

"The $10,000 from our estimate is less than half of the median monthly household income. So we try to maintain it to an affordable level."

A Health Bureau spokesperson said while the HK$10,000 ceiling applies to all patients, it will not kick in automatically and an application must be made.

All surplus fees will be refunded once the application is approved, while subsequent charges for the remainder of that calendar year will be waived, the spokesperson added.

Officials aimed to complete the fee reform within five years, and conduct reviews every two years.
_____________________________
Last updated: 2025-03-25 HKT 15:00