Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ11: Non-eligible persons giving birth in local public hospitals
Following is a question by the Hon Albert Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Health, Welfare and Food, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (November 15):
Question:
Some members of the public have reflected to me that despite the preventive
measures taken by the Hospital Authority (HA), many Mainland women still
defaulted on payment of hospital fees after giving birth in public hospitals in
Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether
it knows:
(a) the number of cases in which Mainland women settled all bills after giving
birth in local public hospitals in each of the past two years, together with a
breakdown by hospitals;
(b) the number of cases in which Mainland women defaulted on payment of fees
after giving birth in local public hospitals, as well as the total amount of
defaulted payment involved, in each of the past two years, together with a
breakdown of such cases and the amounts of defaulted payment by hospitals; and
(c) whether HA has considered strengthening the existing measures to ameliorate
the situation of Mainland women defaulting payment of hospital fees after giving
birth in Hong Kong; if it has, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The numbers of cases in which "Non-eligible Persons" (NEPs) settled all
their bills after giving birth in local public hospitals in 2004-05 and 2005-06
were 9 819 and 10 859 respectively. A breakdown of these cases by hospital is
provided in Table 1.
(b) In 2004-05 and 2005-06, the numbers of cases in which NEPs defaulted on
payment of medical fees after giving birth in public hospitals in Hong Kong were
1 670 and 2 138 respectively, with the amounts involved being $12.64 million and
$28.58 million. A breakdown of these figures by hospital is provided in Table 2.
(c) In the past few years, the Hospital Authority (HA) has implemented a number
of measures to address the problem of defaulted payment of medical fees by NEPs.
These include strict enforcement of the requirement for NEPs to pay an advance
deposit before admission into hospitals (except for cases in which the patients
are in acute conditions and greater flexibility must be allowed); an increase of
the advance deposit from $19,800 to $33,000; issuance of medical bills on
shorter intervals; and greater efforts in recovering medical fees from patients
(such as soliciting payment of fees in hospital wards or trying to approach the
patients' families in Hong Kong for payment). The above measures have been
effective in lowering the rate of default by NEP obstetrics patients (in terms
of the amount of medical fees in default) from 27% in 2003-04 to 15% in 2005-06.
The HA will continue to explore other feasible measures to further ameliorate
the situation of NEPs defaulting on payment of medical fees.
Ends/Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Issued at HKT 13:06
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Attachment:
Table 1 & 2 to LCQ11