Hong Kong spent HK$284.1 billion on healthcare in 2022-23, including HK$43.7 billion on Covid-19
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong reported a total health expenditure of more than HK$284.1 billion in the 2022-23 financial year, accounting for 10 per cent of the city’s gross domestic product.
Hongkongers spent HK$38,670 on average per capita on healthcare in 2022-23, the Health Bureau unveiled on Tuesday in the Domestic Health Accounts (DHA) 2022-23. The government covered 61.2 per cent – or HK$23,652 – of the total spending per Hong Kong resident.
The HK$173.7 billion of public funds spent on health in 2022-23 marked an increase of around 20 per cent compared to the previous year. Additional resources allocated for combatting the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022-23 added up to HK$43.7 billion, more than double the HK$21.2 billion spent in the previous year.
The DHA, which are updated annually, described the “flow of health expenditure” in Hong Kong over a 12-month period, the Health Bureau said on Tuesday. It could be used as a basis for assessing and understanding the levels and trends of medical spending in Hong Kong, it said.
According to the Health Bureau, 58 per cent of the current health expenditure was paid via government schemes, followed by 27 per cent covered by the residents. Privately-purchased insurance schemes and employer-based insurance scheme accounted for 15 percent.
The current expenditure covered health promotion and prevention, diagnosis, treatment, cure and rehabilitation of illness and the caring for chronic disease patients. It also included money spent on caring for people with health-related impairment and disability, palliative care, community health programmes and governance and administration of the health system.
Hong Kong first reported cases of Covid-19 in late January 2020. The epidemic later hit in several waves of infection, with the city’s death rate soaring to the highest in the developed world in March 2022. Most social distancing measures were lifted in December 2022, while the mask mandate was scrapped in March 2023.
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