Last updated: 2026-09-13

The Department of Health's Pilot Reward Scheme page and paragraph 248 of the 2026-27 Budget both announce that the scheme is extended by two years to the end of 2028. An eligible elderly person who spends at least $1,000 of vouchers on designated primary healthcare services within the same year is allotted a $500 reward automatically, at most once a year — up to $2,500 across the five years from 2024 to 2028. The reward cannot be used before your next designated-service visit, and it expires at the end of the following year. It cannot be shared with a spouse. This article covers the reward rules that have been announced; it does not predict whether the annual voucher amount or the accumulation limit will change.

What is the Pilot Reward Scheme, and why does it exist?

It is money on top of your existing vouchers — but it can only be spent on certain kinds of service. The scheme page states its objective:

To promote primary healthcare by optimising the use of resources, the Government will provide rewards to eligible Hong Kong elderly persons aged 65 or above to encourage their use of Health Care Vouchers ("Vouchers") for receiving designated primary healthcare ("PHC") services such as health assessment, chronic disease screening and management provided by private healthcare service providers.

So the policy aim is to encourage preventive care and chronic disease management, and the designated-use restriction is the condition on which the reward is calculated.

On the timeline, question 39 of the Department of Health's voucher-recipient FAQs is the fullest statement:

To encourage the more effective use of private primary healthcare services by elderly persons and progressively shift the focus of healthcare utilization towards preventive care and chronic disease management, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region launched the three-year "Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme" in 2023 and announced in February 2026 that the Scheme would be extended for two years to 2028.

⚠️ The first year had a special arrangement. The scheme page states it below the reward mechanism table:

As a special arrangement, the period for accumulating Voucher spending for the first-year reward (i.e. reward for year 2024) will begin on 13 November 2023 and end on 31 December 2024. The corresponding accumulation period for the following years will begin on 1 January and end on 31 December of the year respectively.

Doing the arithmetic (this site's calculation; every figure comes from the official wording quoted above): the page states a maximum of "$2,500 reward at most over the term of the Pilot Reward Scheme, i.e. from 2024 to 2028". That is five reward years — 2024, 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028 — at most once each and $500 each time, so 5 × $500 = $2,500. The ceiling accrues year by year across five years. It is not a single $2,500 payment.

How does the $500 reach your account?

You do not apply. When the system records enough accumulated spending for that year, it credits the reward immediately and sends you an SMS. The scheme page:

Once an elderly person has accumulated Voucher spending of $1,000 or above on designated PHC services within the same year, the eHealth System (Subsidies) will automatically allot $500 reward to his/her Voucher account.

The reward will be immediately allotted once the accumulated Voucher spending recorded in the eHealth System (Subsidies) reaches $1,000. An SMS message will be sent to the mobile phone number provided by the elderly person as notification.

The count restarts every 1 January. The same page:

Only the Voucher amount used within the same year will count towards the accumulated amount. Accumulated Voucher spending will be reset to zero at the start of each year (normally 1 January), and any previously accumulated amount will lapse on that day.

In other words, accumulation does not carry across years. If you have accumulated $900 on the evening of 31 December, it is $0 on 1 January.

Once allotted, it is not usable on that same visit. Question 40 of the FAQs is brief:

The reward allotted could be used for receiving designated primary healthcare services in the next visit.

Question 48 lists the ways to check the balance: the SMS notification, the voucher balance enquiry page of the eHealth System (Subsidies), the voucher balance enquiry hotline (852) 2838 0511, the eHealth App, and the "Notice on Use of Health Care Voucher" your provider gives you after claiming.

⚠️ The Department of Health has published its own anti-scam line. Question 50 asks whether the Department or a healthcare provider would ask an elderly person for bank account details or to click a link in connection with voucher or reward use. The answer:

No. Elderly persons should stay vigilant against scams.

Which services count towards the $1,000?

The operative phrase is "principal reason for visit". The scheme page:

As long as an elderly person's principal reason for visit to a healthcare service provider is to receive designated PHC services, the amount of Vouchers used by the elderly person on that occasion can be accumulated for earning reward, which can be used for settling fees for such designated PHC services in future.

So whether a visit counts depends on the main reason for that visit falling within the designated scope. It is not assessed service line by service line.

The scope, as the same page lists it:

Designated PHC services under the Pilot Reward Scheme include:
Medical practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners and Dentists enrolled in the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme ("EHVS")
Services on preventive and follow-up/monitoring of long-term conditions, such as:
Medical practitioners: health assessment, body check, screening, vaccination, prescription of preventive drugs, and treatment for chronic diseases, etc.
Chinese medicine practitioners: health assessment and chronic disease management, etc.
Dentists: dental examination, scaling, extraction and filling, etc.
Chronic Disease Co-care Scheme
Hypertension and diabetes mellitus screening services
Medical consultations, drugs (if applicable), laboratory investigations, nurse clinic services and allied health services in the treatment phase
District Health Centres/District Health Centre Expresses
Personalised services including the Chronic Disease Management Programme on osteoarthritic knee pain and low back pain; as well as the Community Rehabilitation Programme focusing on post-myocardial infarction, hip fracture and stroke, etc.

⚠️ The District Health Centre line does not mean that any visit counts. What the page prints beside "District Health Centres/District Health Centre Expresses" is the sentence quoted above: personalised services including the Chronic Disease Management Programme on osteoarthritic knee pain and low back pain, and the Community Rehabilitation Programme focusing on post-myocardial infarction, hip fracture and stroke.

⚠️ The list quoted above is the Hong Kong part only. The same list continues with The University of Hong Kong — Shenzhen Hospital and its Health Centre (the page names 11 designated outpatient medical centres in that entry, plus the Huawei Li Zhi Yuan Community Health Center), and with the designated clinics or departments of each Pilot Medical Institution under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme. This article does not reproduce those institution by institution. If you intend to use vouchers on the Mainland, rely on that page and each institution's own page.

The Department of Health's guidance on scope questions. Question 49 of the FAQs:

An elderly person should consult the healthcare service provider when receiving healthcare services for queries on whether the healthcare services received are for designated primary healthcare purposes.

Once you have the $500, when must you use it?

By the end of the following year. After that it lapses. The scheme page:

The reward will expire by the end of the following year. Unused reward cannot be accumulated and will lapse after the expiry date.

Reward allotment mechanism (extract). Source: Department of Health, Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme, "Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme" (scheme extended to end-2028): https://www.hcv.gov.hk/en/use_of_vouchers/pilot_reward_scheme.html (Last updated: 2026-09-13)
Reward year Period for accumulating use of Vouchers to obtain reward Period for using reward
Reward for Year 20261 January 2026 to 31 December 20261 January 2026 to 31 December 2027
Reward for Year 20271 January 2027 to 31 December 20271 January 2027 to 31 December 2028
Reward for Year 20281 January 2028 to 31 December 20281 January 2028 to 31 December 2029

Note the last row. The reward for 2028 can be used until 31 December 2029 — that is, the scheme itself ends on 31 December 2028, but the final reward remains usable for a further year. A usage period running into 2029 does not create a 2029 reward year.

Does the reward eat into your $8,000 limit? Can you share it with your spouse?

No to the first, and no to the second. Both have official wording.

Question 43 asks whether the reward counts towards the $8,000 voucher accumulation limit:

The reward allotted will be kept separate from the annual voucher amount for each elderly person. The accumulation limit of vouchers will not be affected.

Question 44 asks whether the reward can be shared with a spouse. The answer is one word:

No.

If you pay with your spouse's vouchers, whose accumulation does it count towards? The person receiving the service. The scheme page:

According to the "user accumulates" principle, if an elderly person uses his/her spouse's Vouchers to pay for designated PHC services, the amount spent will only be recorded as his/her own accumulated Voucher spending instead of his/her spouse's.

Spending paid with the reward does not build towards the next reward. Question 42 asks whether using the reward to pay for designated primary healthcare services counts towards the accumulated amount for obtaining a further reward. The answer: "No."

The deduction order is set by the system. The scheme page:

When an elderly person uses Vouchers to pay for designated PHC services, the eHealth System (Subsidies) will automatically deduct the relevant fee from the reward (if available) first, and then deduct the remaining fee from the balance in his/her Voucher account (if necessary).

The $2,000 optometry quota is unchanged. Question 47:

The quota on optometry services (irrespective of whether the optometry services are provided under the Chronic Disease Co-Care Scheme or not) for each elderly person remains unchanged at $2,000 every two year after the launch of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme.

Why do some pages still say "2026" and "$1,500"?

The scheme page, FAQ question 39 and paragraph 248 of the 2026-27 Budget all announce the extension to end-2028. The scheme page:

The Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme ("Pilot Reward Scheme") was launched in 2023, initially for a period of three years. In February 2026, it was announced that the Pilot Reward Scheme will be extended for two years until 31 December 2028. An elderly person can be allotted the reward once each year at most; and may therefore obtain $2,500 reward at most over the term of the Pilot Reward Scheme, i.e. from 2024 to 2028.

The Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme "Highlights" page still carries the original three-year wording:

The three-year Pilot Reward Scheme will run up to 31 December 2026. An elderly person can be allotted the reward once each year at most; that is, an elderly person can obtain $1,500 reward at most over the term of the Pilot Reward Scheme.

Paragraph 248 of the Budget speech:

The Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Reward Scheme will be extended by two years until end-2028. Elderly persons who have accumulated voucher spending of $1,000 or above within the same year on specific primary healthcare services such as examination and chronic disease management will have a $500 voucher reward. The measure will involve an additional expenditure of about $1 billion.

This site's reading: the 2026 / $1,500 wording does not reflect the announced two-year extension. The 2028 / $2,500 arrangement in this article rests on the explicit announcements in the scheme page, FAQ question 39 and Budget paragraph 248. That reading is not based on which version appears more often across the website, and it does not imply that every page on the website has been compared.

Common questions

  • Do I have to apply for the $500? No. The scheme page states that the system allots the reward immediately and sends an SMS. It is automatic.
  • I accumulated $900 this year — can I carry it into next year? No. The official wording is that accumulated spending "will be reset to zero at the start of each year (normally 1 January), and any previously accumulated amount will lapse on that day".
  • Can I use the $500 against the same consultation fee that triggered it? The official answer is the next visit: "The reward allotted could be used for receiving designated primary healthcare services in the next visit."
  • Will the $500 use up part of my $8,000 limit? No. Question 43 states that the reward is kept separate from the annual voucher amount and the accumulation limit is not affected.
  • Can my spouse and I pool the reward? Question 44 answers "No." But if you pay using your spouse's vouchers, the "user accumulates" principle records that spending against the accumulation of the person who received the service.
  • How do I know whether I have been given it? An SMS notifies you. You can also check through the voucher balance enquiry page of the eHealth System (Subsidies), the hotline (852) 2838 0511, or the eHealth App.
  • Why do I see pages saying $1,500? The Greater Bay Area Pilot Scheme "Highlights" page still carries the original three-year wording. The scheme page and FAQ question 39 reflect the extension to end-2028, and Budget paragraph 248 announces it. Five reward years at up to $500 each gives up to $2,500.

Related article: 〈How to make the most of dental subsidies — the 21 voucher service points and six rules before going north〉

What this article covers

  • This article describes the reward scheme as announced to end-2028. The scheme page, FAQ question 39 and Budget paragraph 248 do not say whether the scheme will be extended again after the end of 2028. That is the scope of those three documents; it does not mean the Government will make no further announcement.
  • The reward for 2028 has a usage period ending 31 December 2029. A usage period extending into 2029 does not create a 2029 reward year.
  • This article does not list every designated clinic or department at Greater Bay Area institutions, and does not predict the annual voucher amount, the accumulation limit, or any unannounced policy.
  • This is service information, not individual medical advice.
  • This is the English edition. The Traditional Chinese edition is the authoritative version of this article. Quotations above are reproduced from the official English text published by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, not translated by this site.

Sources