**********************************************************
The second stage public consultation on healthcare reform ended today (January 7). As at 5pm today, the Government has received about 500 submissions from individuals and organisations. Members of the public actively expressed views on the direction of healthcare reform and the details of the proposed voluntary Health Protection Scheme (HPS) during the three-month consultation period.
A spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau said: "Generally speaking, the community shares the Government's vision of maintaining the public healthcare system as a safety net while reforming the private healthcare market. It also concurs with the principle, i.e. voluntary and government-regulated, and the design of the proposed HPS. A survey commissioned by the Government during the consultation period reveals that more than 60% of the respondents supported the implementation of the voluntary HPS.
"In addition, there is also general support of the Government reforming the private health insurance market, which provides coverage to about 2.5 million citizens."
For public healthcare services, there is consensus among the submissions that public healthcare system should continue to be a safety net for the whole community. The Government has been increasing its health expenditure as well as strengthening and improving public healthcare services. The spokesman stressed that, while reforming the private healthcare service market, the Government would only increase but not reduce its commitment to public healthcare. The Government would continue to implement various reforms on public healthcare services, including enhancing primary care and developing electronic health record sharing.
On the operation details of HPS, views were expressed on how to ensure that the fee schedules were reasonable, and that private healthcare services were of high quality and value for money. Apart from enhancing supervision, market competition and transparency, there were views that the Government should have a role to play to ensure service quality and reasonable pricing. "These concerns are well noted. We trust that legislative backing, appropriate supervision and transparent packaged charging which provides clearly priced healthcare services for the public are of vital importance to the implementation of HPS," the spokesman said.
Regarding service and manpower planning of the whole healthcare system, some respondents pointed out that private healthcare capacity and overall manpower supply in healthcare service sector should keep abreast with demand, together with adequate supply of affordable services based on packaged charging. The spokesman said the Government would see to it that healthcare manpower planning would be properly formulated, make sites available for development of new private hospitals, and increase healthcare services capacity and manpower. These would enhance market competition and transparency so as to provide the public with value-for-money healthcare services.
In addition, the spokesman pointed out that the Government received different views on how to make the best use of the $50 billion from the fiscal reserve to support HPS. The spokesman said the Government had an open-minded position, subject to the overriding principle of benefiting the community and ensuring access to sustainable healthcare protection. He stressed that the Government would give careful consideration to views collected from various sectors of the community before deciding on the way forward.
"Looking ahead, the Government will carefully consider how to address the views received from members of the public and different organisations. With the consultation exercise drawing to a close, we will collate and analyse these views. A report setting out the way forward will be released in due course," the spokesman added.
The Food and Health Bureau published the consultation document entitled "My Health My Choice" on October 6 last year, under which a government-regulated HPS, aiming at enhancing the long-term sustainability of the healthcare system, was proposed for public consultation. During the consultation, the Government held two community forums to canvass the views of the general public. Officials of the Food and Health Bureau also attended more than 80 forums organised by outside parties which took different forms and targeted audiences from a variety of backgrounds (including the relevant Legislative Council Panel, all District Councils, the concerned trades and a host of stakeholders), which provided opportunities for in-depth discussions.
Ends/Friday, January 7, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:00
NNNN