The Political Economy of Health Care Development and Reforms in Hong Kong by Victor C.W. Wong

Author:Victor C.W. Wong [Wong, Victor C.W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General
ISBN: 9780429808371
Google: IAKaDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-05-23T04:55:09+00:00

This points in the direction that the current pricing structure should be reformed lest more and more private patients should be attracted. In addition to charging higher user fees, there are indeed some other available options for the government to redirect patients’ demand to private medicine. Firstly, patients with individual or family income above a certain limit may be totally excluded from using public services. But the government which is not unaware of the associated political cost has never raised such an option. Secondly, the public health care providers may continue to rely on using various non-price barriers, like waiting list, poorer non-clinical service quality and other inconveniences, to discourage private patients from using the service. However, stating the reality of the existence of all these non-price barriers is one thing, while explicitly using them as a policy tool to suppress public demand is another thing. Again, political pressure cannot be underestimated if the quality of services is drastically reduced. Indeed, Towards Better Health also emphasises that ‘long queue…is a constant source of dissatisfaction to, and a point of complaint from, the public’ (Hong Kong Government, 1993a:para.2.10). Thirdly, the public sector may redirect the demands to the private sector by means of transferring part of the responsibility of following up the discharged patients by involving private practitioners. This point will be discussed in more detail later.

If the government decided to make virtually free public medical services available to the whole community, the influx of private patients to the public sector would not have been considered as an abuse case. That is, it is up to the patients to opt for private health care if they are not satisfied with the minimum provided by the state. However, judged by the safety-net approach promoted by the government, the influx of private patients to the public sector is but an abuse of public subsidy.

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