Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

Hospitals reform 'has led to fairer system for poor'

rthk.hk · 6h · first reportShare

The public healthcare reform instituted at the start of the year has led to a dramatic rise in the number of medical fee waiver beneficiaries, with the figure surging by more than 20 times, according to Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau. As part of the reform, the fee for a range of services such as non-urgent, semi-urgent and urgent cases at accident and emergency wards was increased to HK$400. No payment is required for patients classified as critical and emergency. An expansion of the waiver mechanism has also made more patients with financial difficulties eligible, after passing a means test. Speaking after a Commercial Radio programme, Lo pointed out that around 14,000 people received fee waivers annually before the reform. “For this year, we have already had over 280,000 fee waivers approved,” he said. "So this is a dramatic increase – by actually more than 20 times – now in the number of people who actually get the fee waiver. "This is a very dramatic improvement in safeguarding