Public hospital fees and health cover

People who come to Hong Kong to work often ask the same questions. What does treatment cost if the employer provides no medical cover. How do the charges change before and after you have a Hong Kong identity card. Whether to buy medical insurance yourself. Who pays when the injury is caused by work.

The figures below are the Hospital Authority charges after the public healthcare charging reform of 1 January 2026. They also cover the annual fee cap, waivers of medical fees, the types of plan under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme and the conditions for a tax deduction, and the medical expenses an employer must pay under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance. The notes follow the Hospital Authority pages on fees, on the annual fee cap, and on the medical fee waiver mechanism (the parts for an eligible person and for a non-eligible person); the Health Bureau's Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme page on identifying a certified product; the GovHK page on the tax deduction for a Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme premium; and the Labour Department's concise guide to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance. Checked 19 October 2026. The definition of an eligible person is in the briefing in this series on what to do before the first day. It is not repeated here.

Hospital Authority fees for an eligible person

1. Accident and emergency: HK$400 a visit. A patient triaged as category I (critical) or category II (emergency) is exempt. If you leave before a doctor sees you, you can register at the accident and emergency department and apply for a refund of HK$350.
2. A family medicine clinic (general outpatient clinic): HK$150 a visit. Each drug is HK$5.
3. A specialist clinic: HK$250 a visit. Each drug is HK$20.
4. A prescription drug is charged in units of 4 weeks.
5. Inpatient care. An acute bed is HK$300 a day. A convalescent, rehabilitation, infirmary, or psychiatric bed is HK$200 a day. The inpatient charge covers the consultation, tests, general drugs, vaccinations, general nursing, and meals. If you are admitted and discharged on the same day, that still counts as 1 day. The day is reckoned at midnight.
6. Pathology tests. A basic item is free. An advanced item is HK$50. A high-end item is HK$200. The charge is per item.
7. Non-urgent radiology. A basic item is free. An advanced item is HK$250. A high-end item is HK$500. The charge is per item.
8. Day procedures and treatment: HK$250 a time.

Fees for a non-eligible person

If you have not yet been issued a Hong Kong identity card, or the permission to stay on which the card was issued is no longer valid, you are charged as a non-eligible person.

1. Accident and emergency: HK$2,100 a visit. If you leave before the consultation, you can apply for a refund of HK$1,850.
2. A family medicine clinic: HK$500 a visit. Each drug is HK$40.
3. A specialist clinic: HK$850 a visit. Each drug is HK$90.
4. Inpatient care in a general hospital: HK$7,400 a day.
5. An intensive care bed is HK$35,600 a day. A high-dependency bed is HK$21,000 a day.
6. Obstetric delivery. A confirmed booking is HK$74,000. If the booking is not confirmed, or you have not had antenatal care from the Hospital Authority, the charge is HK$130,000.
7. Pathology tests: basic HK$400, advanced HK$800, high-end HK$16,100, per item. Non-urgent radiology: basic HK$400, advanced HK$1,600, high-end HK$4,700, per item.

In practice:

1. After you arrive on a visa, register for a Hong Kong identity card as soon as you can. Before you have the card, treatment is charged at the non-eligible person rates.
2. When a visa is renewed, do not let the permission to stay lapse. Under the Hospital Authority's definition, a person whose identity card was issued on the strength of a permission to stay that has expired, or that is no longer valid, is not an eligible person.
3. If you have, or are suspected of having, a disease listed in the International Health Regulations, the Gazette provides that you do not pay the accident and emergency charge, or the inpatient charge for a public ward. That applies whether or not you are an eligible person.

The annual fee cap (eligible persons only)

1. What it is. From 1 January 2026, the Hospital Authority has a second safety net, outside the medical fee waiver mechanism. There is no means test. In each calendar year, from 1 January to 31 December, the cap on fees for public healthcare services is HK$10,000.
2. Who can apply. You must be an eligible person. The eligible medical fees and charges you have already paid in that year add up to HK$10,000. At the time you apply, you owe the Hospital Authority no eligible fees. The Hospital Authority has not ruled that the services you received were without clinical need.
3. What it covers. The services covered include inpatient care, accident and emergency, specialist outpatient care, family medicine outpatient care, a day hospital or a day procedure, pathology and diagnostic radiology, standard drugs, community services, and public-private partnership programmes charged at the same rate as the same kind of Hospital Authority service. The list is not exhaustive. Self-financed drugs and medical devices are not included.
4. How to apply. Apply through the HA Go app, or at the payment office of any hospital. A person already registered on HA Go as your carer may apply for you. Any other person applying for you must sign the specified form and hand it in at the hospital payment office.
5. When you can apply. From 1 January each year to 31 March of the following year. Eligible fees include only bills issued from 1 January to 31 December of that year, and paid in full at the time you apply. You have to apply again each year.
6. Assessment generally takes 14 days. Until the result is announced, you still have to pay every bill. The amount you had already paid above HK$10,000, before the application was approved, is used to pay eligible fees in later years. There is no time limit on that.
7. After it is granted, say so each time you register for treatment. State that the annual fee cap has been granted.

A waiver of medical fees

1. An eligible person. A recipient of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, a holder of a Level 0 residential care voucher under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly, and a recipient of the Old Age Living Allowance who is aged 75 or above: state that status when you register for treatment, and show the document. Once the system confirms it, the charge is waived. Another patient in financial difficulty can apply through the one-stop medical fee assistance function in HA Go, or in person at the medical social services department of a public hospital or clinic, or at an integrated family service centre of the Social Welfare Department. A medical social worker, a social worker, or an executive officer carries out a means test on a household basis. HA Go has a calculator for a preliminary assessment of the means test. The result is for reference only.
2. A non-eligible person. Unless there are special circumstances and financial difficulty, a waiver is generally not given. The Hospital Authority considers a full waiver or a partial waiver in its discretion, case by case. Apply to the medical social services department of the hospital where you are treated, or to the relevant unit of the Social Welfare Department. The assessment covers you and your household. If you do not accept the result, appeal within 4 weeks of receiving the notice.
3. Giving false information in order to obtain a waiver is a criminal offence. A prosecution may be brought under the Theft Ordinance.

Voluntary Health Insurance: the Standard Plan and the Flexi Plan

1. Each certified product under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme has its own certified product number. You can look it up on the scheme's website and on the insurer's website. The insurer is responsible for disclosing the certified product number to the customer.
2. The Standard Plan. The product design is fixed, and it meets the minimum requirements for compliance. Apart from minor differences that are permitted, the Standard Plans of different insurers are broadly the same in design.
3. The Flexi Plan. It keeps the cover of the Standard Plan as a whole, and it offers higher options, for example a higher benefit limit and a wider scope of cover.
4. Premiums are not regulated. Even where the cover is similar, the premiums of different products can differ by a wide margin. A premium is usually set by age, and it is adjusted at renewal. The scheme's website has a table of standard premiums for Standard Plans, which you can use to compare.
5. Medical insurance that is not under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme is not bound by the scheme's requirements. Its premium cannot be claimed as a deduction under the scheme's rules.
6. The specific benefit items and the limits of the Standard Plan were not checked item by item for this note. Follow the product terms published on the scheme's website (checked 19 October 2026).

A tax deduction for a Voluntary Health Insurance premium

The deduction ceiling, the conditions for the insured person and for a specified relative, and the duty to notify a refund of premium, are already set out in part 5 of the briefing in this series on rent, self-education and dependent parents. Only 2 points of procedure are added here.

1. If a policy has more than 1 policy holder, the premium paid is treated as paid by all the holders in equal shares. If a policy contains both a certified product and life insurance, only the part of the premium that relates to the certified product is deductible.
2. Claim it in Part 9 of the tax return. If you apply only after you have submitted the return, you may make a supplementary application on form IR831 within 6 years after the end of the year of assessment. You do not have to submit the proof with the return. You must keep the premium receipts and the annual policy statement for 6 years, counted from the end of that year of assessment.

Employer medical cover and work-injury medical expenses

1. Group medical cover from an employer is a benefit under the contract. It is not a statutory requirement. When you start, confirm whether outpatient care and inpatient care are both covered, whether you must use a named network of doctors, whether family members can be added, and whether the cover can be converted to an individual policy after you leave.
2. Medical expenses for a work injury, under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance. The employer must pay the medical expenses of an injury caused by work. The daily maximum is HK$300 for inpatient treatment, HK$500 where the treatment is not inpatient, and HK$700 where there is both inpatient and non-inpatient treatment on the same day.
3. The employer must pay the money back within 21 days after the employee submits a written request and the receipts for the medical expenses. If the employer does not pay, the employee may sue in the Small Claims Tribunal or in the District Court, depending on the amount.
4. If you are injured at work outside Hong Kong and treated there, the employer must pay the medical expenses, up to the same amounts as in Hong Kong.
5. How to report a work injury, and how sickness allowance is calculated, are in the briefing in this series on sick leave, maternity, paternity and work injuries.

A practical list

1. After you arrive, register for a Hong Kong identity card as soon as you can, and do not let the permission to stay lapse.
2. Download HA Go. Use it for appointments, for payment, for the annual fee cap, and for a waiver application.
3. Keep every Hospital Authority bill and receipt.
4. Judge whether the employer's medical cover is enough, and then decide whether to buy Voluntary Health Insurance as well. Check the certified product number.
5. Keep the Voluntary Health Insurance premium receipts and the annual statement for 6 years.

Sources

• Hospital Authority, fees webpage (checked 19 October 2026)
• Hospital Authority, annual fee cap (for eligible persons) webpage (checked 19 October 2026)
• Hospital Authority, medical fee waiver mechanism webpage, the parts for an eligible person and for a non-eligible person (checked 19 October 2026)
• Health Bureau, Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme website, page on identifying a certified product (checked 19 October 2026)
• GovHK, tax deduction for Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme premiums (revised May 2026, checked 19 October 2026)
• Labour Department, A Concise Guide to the Employees' Compensation Ordinance (checked 19 October 2026)