HA announces application arrangements under enhanced medical fee waiving mechanism

HA announces application arrangements under enhanced medical fee waiving mechanism 
     An HA spokesperson said, “As the public healthcare fees and charges reform takes effect on January 1 next year, the HA will simultaneously introduce a series of strengthened protection measures, including enhancing the current medical fee waiver mechanism, which will increase the number of eligible beneficiaries from 300 000 to 1.4 million.”
 
     To handle the additional fee waiver applications, the HA will implement special transitional arrangements during the transition period from January to March next year to ensure timely processing of applications:
      Meanwhile, patients currently holding medical fee waiver certificates (full or partial) can continue using them until expiry without reapplication. Patients with partial fee waiver certificates who qualify for full waivers under the enhanced mechanism can obtain full waivers by declaring no significant change in financial status at Medical Social Services Units (MSSU) three months before appointments or within three months after hospitalisation, without requiring reassessment. The validity will be the same as the original certificate’s expiry date.
 
     As an important part of the public healthcare fees and charges reform, the medical fee waiver thresholds will be relaxed from January 1 next year. The income limit will be raised to 100 per cent of the median monthly household income (MMDHI) (for households with two or more persons) or 150 per cent of MMDHI (for single-person households), while the asset limit will be relaxed to that of the public rental housing application. Furthermore, the application procedures and coverage will be enhanced to facilitate public access, including relaxing the definition of “household” so that family members without close financial ties to the applicant may be excluded from means testing; expanding the coverage of periodic medical fee waivers to include episodic Family Medicine Out-patient Services; extending the maximum waiver validity period from 12 months to 18 months; and allowing patients to simply sign a declaration confirming unchanged financial status for reapplication within 18 months without resubmitting financial documents.
 
     Patients can apply for medical fee waivers at MSSU in public hospitals or clinics, as well as the Social Welfare Department’s Integrated Family Service Centres, Family and Child Protective Services Units, or other designated service units. Members of the public can also learn about application procedures through the HA’s mobile application “HA Go” by accessing the “Medical Fee Assistance Domain” and preliminarily assess their eligibility through the Means Test Calculator (applicable for applications from January 1, 2026) via “HA Go” or the HA website (ewsecal.ha.org.hk/calculator/index.html?lang=en 
     The HA will utilise confirmed means test eligibility under social welfare and other government-subsidised schemes as a reference for processing fee waiver applications, aiming to make arrangements and procedures as clear and simple as possible for the public. The HA will also gradually digitalise the assessment process, allowing applicants to check application status and upload documents through the HA Go mobile application by the end of this year, with the goal of enabling online applications by the third quarter of next year.
 
     The spokesperson added, “The HA has established dedicated teams starting from November to ensure timely processing of medical fee waiver applications received by all public hospitals.”