Letters | Hong Kong’s rush into raising healthcare charges is a mistake

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Hong Kong’s public healthcare system was built on a promise: no one should be bankrupted by illness. With the government eyeing substantial fee increases for emergency and diagnostic services, we’re left wondering if officials have thought this through. Against a backdrop of an ageing population, younger individuals developing chronic conditions and spiralling medical costs, the proposal is poorly timed. Raising fees without a comprehensive financing plan is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic – it misses the iceberg entirely.

The current system, where the government foots 97 per cent of public healthcare costs, has papered over three glaring structural problems. First, we’re facing a severe public-private resource imbalance. Private hospitals enjoy tax breaks and discounted land grants while charging fees that make most citizens recoil. When emergency services costing HK$2,400 (US$310) are priced at just HK$180, is it any surprise patients with minor sniffles flock to public facilities?

Second, the voluntary insurance scheme has turned out to be a damp squib. Without provisions for high-risk pooling or guaranteed acceptance, chronic patients and vulnerable groups have been left high and dry. Third, primary care – the frontline defence that could take pressure off hospitals – remains woefully underdeveloped.