The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers (HKFI) today (Thursday, 30 May 2013) reaffirms its full support of the Government's initiative to revamp the health care system in Hong Kong to ensure its long-term sustainability.

"We at the HKFI have been actively assisting the Food and Health Bureau and its consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) to come up with a viable Health Protection Scheme (HPS) designed to offer a choice and to better serve consumers," said Mr David Alexander, Chairman of HKFI's Task Force on Health Care Reform. 

To achieve this, however, we have to ensure the new system will:

• uphold freedom of choice for consumers, including those employers that offer group benefits for their staff;

• clearly define the operation of the proposed High Risk Pool with firm commitment of funding support from the Government;

• apply due transparency to both insurance premiums and fees charged by doctors and hospitals;

• provide a clear set of criteria for assessing the success of the HPS;

• ensure free competition among medical insurers to continuously improve and expand product offerings for the benefit of consumers.

In line with the above principles, the HKFI would support:

• introduction of the HPS alongside with the existing medical insurance products;

• HPS with standard policy terms and coverage for hospital benefits, life time renewal, guaranteed acceptance and portability subject to proper management of the risks envisaged;

• development of Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) or packaged pricing to enhance the transparency and predictability of medical costs for the benefit of customers;

• initiatives to strengthen and improve the present claims dispute resolution mechanism for better consumer satisfaction.

Mr Alexander stressed the importance of allowing consumers to exercise free choice. "If the HPS proves to be a good product, the general public would vote for it with their money," said Mr Alexander.