Allowing more elderly people to benefit from the automatic medical fee waiver at public hospitals and improving the economy are among the suggestions lawmakers have made for the upcoming budget.

Currently, only those eligible for the Old Age Living Allowance and who are aged 75 or above can get exemptions for their medical charges.

But legislator and DAB Vice Chairman Holden Chow said on an RTHK radio show that expanding the automatic waiver to those 65 or older would make it more convenient for seniors and reduce the Hospital Authority's bureaucratic burden.

"The procedures could be very lengthy, and it could be very complicated," he said.

"[The elderly] have to fill out a lot of the application forms, and they have to go back and forth within the department, and that causes them a lot of hiccups, I would say."

Speaking on the same programme, Federation of Trade Unions lawmaker Bill Tang said it was often challenging for elderly people to produce hard copies of their financial information to apply for a waiver.

"For example, with some e-payment transactions... the scheme requests them to provide at least a half-year record of such accounts," he said.

"For the elderly, it is mission impossible because at home, maybe they don't have Wi-Fi, a printer, or any equipment for them to get together the related financial information."

Another programme guest, New People's Party legislator Dominic Lee, said many elderly people were upset by the increased hospital charges. He called these fees a main expense, especially since many have no income.

Meanwhile, on Commercial Radio, retail-sector lawmaker Peter Shiu suggested the administration take action on rents. He said cross-boundary online shopping was still affecting Hong Kong’s retail business even though the market was gradually stabilising.

His finance-sector colleague Ronick Chan said one way to increase revenue was to raise the penalty for overdue tax payments.

Kenneth Fok said the financial secretary could consider increasing the basic tax allowance, which has been frozen for years.

Sunny Tan, who is also the chairman of the Hong Kong Productivity Council, said he hoped the government would offer more financial assistance to help enterprises upgrade and restructure their businesses.