Easing fee waiver rules to benefit 1.4m people

Public hospitals will implement new fee schedules and relax the asset threshold for medical fee waivers on January 1 next year, a change expected to make 1.4 million people eligible to apply.

The Hospital Authority will launch dedicated teams across its seven clusters next month to streamline the waiver application process.

During the initial phase of the public health care fee reform – from January to March next year – transitional arrangements will be implemented.

These include “conditional waivers” for patients with urgent needs who have not yet submitted all documents. Patients with currently valid waiver certificates will have them honored automatically until expiration. The maximum validity period for waivers will be extended to 18 months from 12 months.