FWD Greater Bay Area’s survey on healthcare protection reveals 75% of respondents in Hong Kong are concerned about an anticipated increase in medical expenditure in the next decade

Passive in health protection planning, nearly 40% of respondents in Hong Kong might give up the best medical options

HONG KONG SAR - Media OutReach - 20 February 2023 - A recent survey on "Healthcare Protection in the Greater Bay Area (GBA)" (note 1) conducted by FWD Hong Kong ("FWD") has found that Hong Kongers anticipate a huge increase in medical expenditure in the future which would impose financial burden on them.

However, unlike the respondents in GBA, fewer Hongkongers are prepared to make use of medical or critical illness insurance to build reserve. Unable to shoulder the hefty medical expenses, 40% of Hong Kongers admitted that they might have to consider giving up the best treatment options as a result.

The survey was conducted in September 2022 in 11 cities (note 1) with a view to understand respondents' views on healthcare protection plans for individuals and their families, in particular their budget for expenses on medical and critical illnesses. A total of 2,410 GBA residents aged between 18 and 60 were polled, including 500 from Hong Kong, 102 from Macau and 1,808 from nine other Mainland cities. Key survey findings are as follows:

1) Considerable pressure coping with future medical expenses in general, some might just relinquish treatment

• Huge healthcare expenditure anticipated in the future: Around 60 to 75% of respondents in Hong Kong, Macau and the Mainland expected medical expenditure for both individuals and family members would likely be increased by over 20% in 10 years' time, the costliest being treatment for critical/serious illnesses (such as cancer, cardiac diseases and stroke).

• Heavy financial burden brought by healthcare expenditure: Around 70% of respondents said that medical expenses for themselves and their families would create a "very heavy" or "rather heavy" financial burden within the next 10 years. The ratios of respondents from Hong Kong (76%) and Macau (78%) were higher than that from the Mainland (65%).

• Hong Kongers passive in response, some even considered giving up medical treatment: In spite of the financial burden they faced, many Hongkongers were still passive in dealing with the insufficient health insurance coverage issue, such as choosing to cut down other daily spendings (82%) or cash in their savings (73%) instead. Nearly 40% of Hongkongers (37%) said they would opt to give up medical treatment or the best medical solutions, the highest among respondents in three regions.

• Hong Kong has the lowest health insurance penetration rate in GBA: Even though 95% of Hong Kongers considered healthcare protection as "rather important" or "very important", only around half have medical insurance plans (including Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme - VHIS) or critical illness insurance (56% and 49% respectively). The ratios were considerably lower than those from Macau (71%, 46%) and the Mainland (80%, 70%)

• Health insurance spending relatively low among Hongkongers: The survey also indicated that 70% Hongkongers spent no more than 20% of their household income annually on medical insurance or critical illness insurance (76% and 75% respectively), presenting an obvious disparity with Macau where about half of the respondents (49%, 62%) allocated over 20% of their household income on insurance protection.