TL;DR A "medical fee waiver" has to be applied for and it is means-tested. Whether it is granted, and whether in full or in part, is decided after an assessment made on a "family" basis by a medical social worker at the public hospital or clinic, a social worker at the Social Welfare Department, or an executive officer. Two financial lines have to be cleared together: the income line (one-person household $15,450, two-person $24,200, three-person $40,200, four-person $55,100, five or more $51,100) and the asset line (one-person $295,000, two-person $400,000, three-person $521,000, four-person $608,000, five-person $675,000; for each member aged 65 or above the asset limit rises by $168,000). The figures in the two tables come from two different bodies and were updated on different dates — the income figures come from the Census and Statistics Department and are noted as updated in May 2026 and adjusted quarterly; the asset figures come from the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Housing Department and are noted as updated in April 2026 and adjusted annually. They cannot be treated as carrying the same date. The biggest misunderstanding is to assume that living with your parents and siblings necessarily means being counted as a household of several. The Hospital Authority's own table says the opposite: a patient who is not a dependant and is unmarried "will be regarded as a one-person family (regardless of whether the patient lives with parents/legal guardian or siblings)". For the same person, the threshold moves from a four-person household's $55,100 to $15,450, a difference of $39,650. Four more things will cost you if you get them wrong. (i) The speed of approval is a conditional bargain — the Hospital Authority's Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version) states that once a patient has submitted all family income and asset information and supporting documents, the waiver application "may be approved as soon as the same day". That is the fastest case, not the usual time taken. So: bringing everything at once is buying time itself. (ii) Past three months from the date the bill was issued, a medical social worker "will generally not process" a waiver application for that bill. (iii) The appeal period against a result is four weeks, and there are two separate appeals, going to different people. (iv) People already holding a partial waiver have an upgrade route that needs no fresh assessment. The waiver and the Samaritan Fund are two different things: a waiver reduces the charges of public hospitals and clinics, and the waiver certificate issued is stated in the source document to apply also to "public healthcare institutions under the HA and the Department of Health providing the same services"; the Fund subsidises self-financed drugs and self-financed medical items, and expressly takes only Hospital Authority patients. How the Fund works is in 〈Eczema medication and the public dermatology service〉 and is not repeated here. The 2026 fee schedule itself, and the annual charge cap of ten thousand dollars a year, are in 〈Public hospital charges in 2026〉 and are likewise not repeated here. This article will not tell you whether you will be approved — beyond the financial criteria there are non-financial factors and a discretion, exercised case by case by a medical social worker, social worker or executive officer. It only restates what each official document says itself, and marks the update date each page gives for its own figures.
"Exemption", "waiver", "cap" and "fund" are four different things
These four words get used interchangeably in everyday conversation, but in the Hospital Authority's own documents they have different ways in, different assessments and different coverage. Go through the wrong door and the trip is wasted.
The opening passage of the Hospital Authority's page on medical fee waivers for eligible persons (footer self-dated May 2026 in Chinese) states that after the public healthcare fee reform of January 2026, the Hospital Authority continues to uphold the Government's fundamental principle that no one should be denied adequate medical treatment through lack of means, and therefore operates a medical fee waiver mechanism [Note 1].
In one sentence: this mechanism is a safety net, not a price list. The four things below have to be kept apart.
(i) Automatic exemption — no application, no means test. The "target" section of the same page names three groups: recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance from the Social Welfare Department; holders of a level 0 residential care service voucher under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly; and recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above (including under the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme) [Note 2]. Note the actions that passage sets out for itself: you must tell staff at each registration for treatment, and produce proof of identity. It does not simply switch itself on. (That passage lists what is in the page's "target" section, and is not a complete catalogue of every free medical arrangement in Hong Kong; item (v) below is another route that is not in it.)
(ii) The medical fee waiver — application and means test required. This is what the rest of this article is about.
(iii) The "annual charge cap" — application required, but no means test. The Hospital Authority's page on the annual charge cap for eligible persons settles the distinction in one sentence: from 1 January 2026, outside the medical fee waiver mechanism, the Hospital Authority has established a second layer of safety net, setting an annual cap of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars on public healthcare service charges for eligible patients, with no means test [Note 3]. In other words: the cap and the waiver run in parallel rather than being alternatives, and the cap side will not examine your income and assets.
⚠ But "no means test" is not "no threshold" — the threshold has simply changed form, and the answer is printed in the "eligibility" section immediately following on the same page. There are four items: the patient must be an eligible person; the patient must have paid a cumulative total of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars in "eligible medical fees and charges" within the year; at the time of application the patient must have no outstanding "eligible medical fees and charges" anywhere in the Hospital Authority; and the hospital services the patient received must not have been determined by the Hospital Authority as having "no clinical need" [Note 4].
Which is to say: the cap is a door that opens only once you have paid ten thousand dollars yourself and have nothing outstanding anywhere in the Hospital Authority at the time of application. And the reader this article is written for — someone who cannot pay, with the bill still sitting unsettled at home — fails on precisely those two. So do not treat the cap as a fallback for "if the waiver is refused": for someone who cannot pay, the waiver is the route that comes first, and the cap is the second layer that becomes available once you can. How the cap is calculated, how to apply and what counts towards it are in 〈Public hospital charges in 2026〉 and are not repeated here; the 2026 fee schedule itself is also in 〈Public hospital charges in 2026〉.
(iv) The Samaritan Fund and the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme — these subsidise self-financed drugs and self-financed medical items, not charges. These are also means-tested and also handled by medical social workers, which is why they are the easiest to confuse with the waiver. The distinction has its own section below.
(v) Free outpatient services at the three Tung Wah hospitals — no application, no means test, but limited to named hospitals and named services. The Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 states that eligible persons attending outpatient services at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital will continue to be exempted from the consultation and prescribed drug charges of family medicine clinics (excluding integrated clinics) — applicable to all eligible persons — and from the consultation charge of specialist outpatient clinics (excluding integrated clinics and allied health clinics), applicable only to eligible persons aged 75 or above, or 12 or below [Note 5].
How that route works, how to establish eligibility, and how the two documents differ over "integrated clinics", are in 〈What are the alternatives when the public waiting list is too long?〉 and are not repeated here. For the purposes of this article only one thing needs remembering: if your follow-up is at the family medicine clinic of one of those three hospitals, you may not need the means-tested waiver route at all.
⚠ If you are already on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, or are over seventy-five and on the Old Age Living Allowance: you do not need the rest of this article. You are in category (i) — take your identity document and say so when you register. If you attend follow-up at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital or Kwong Wah Hospital, look at item (v) first. This article is written for people in none of those categories who genuinely cannot pay.
Why the "medical social worker" route, rather than filling in a form and sending it off?
Because when the Government strengthened this mechanism it wrote down three principles, and the third of them directly determines the shape of the system.
Immediately after the passage on automatic exemption, the same page states that in order to protect three groups of people not receiving those social welfare benefits — people on low incomes, people with chronic illness, and poor elderly patients — the Government strengthened the waiver mechanism then in force on three principles: (i) public money should be concentrated on subsidising the disadvantaged and those services that impose a heavy financial burden on patients; (ii) in assessing whether a patient qualifies, an objective and transparent set of criteria should be set, while both financial and non-financial factors must be considered; and (iii) the strengthened mechanism should be convenient for the public to use while keeping the administrative and operating costs required at their present low level [Note 6].
In other words: this mechanism serves three groups; it uses a published objective set of criteria (the two tables below) while expressly preserving "non-financial factors"; and it will not build a new team of assessors in order to do so.
That third principle explains two practical things. First, why the assessment work went to medical social workers, social workers and executive officers already working in hospitals and at the Social Welfare Department, rather than to a separate approving department. Second, why the 2026 enhancements added an item on recognising means-test eligibility already confirmed under social welfare and other government-funded schemes — the Hospital Authority's Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet (self-dated 28 November 2025) puts it exactly that way: borrowing a result another department has already checked beats checking it again.
The mechanism also has a timeline of gradual extension, in the page's own footnotes [Note 7]: from March 2017 holders of a level 0 residential care service voucher could be exempted; from 15 July 2017 it was extended to eligible recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance; from 1 June 2018 it applied equally to recipients aged 75 or above of the Higher Old Age Living Allowance; and after the two Old Age Living Allowances merged on 1 September 2022, the exemption applied equally to recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above.
⚠ If you find it tiresome that the Government checks your affairs: the third principle is the answer. The system is deliberately designed to borrow eligibility already tested under other government schemes, so if you already hold something like an Old Age Living Allowance record, several documents can be saved.
How is "family" counted? This step is the hinge that decides which line applies to you
The two financial lines are fixed figures; what really decides whether you clear them is how many people you are counted as. And the Hospital Authority's method runs against most people's intuition.
The first step is not counting money but settling status. The page states that in defining "family", the first step is to establish whether the patient is a dependant, that is, unmarried and either under 18, or aged 18 to 25 and in full-time education; a patient who does not meet that description is classified as a non-dependant [Note 8]. Only once status is settled does the table apply.
| Patient category | Definition of "family" and of nuclear family members living together |
|---|---|
| Dependent patient | The patient, the parents 3 / legal guardian living with them, and any siblings who are dependants 4 |
| Non-dependent patient | If married 5 — the patient, the spouse living with them, and any children 3 who are dependants 4 (but not the parents / legal guardian or siblings living with them) If unmarried — the patient will be regarded as a one-person family (regardless of whether the patient lives with parents / legal guardian or siblings) |
In one sentence: a person of 26, unmarried and working, is a one-person family under this mechanism even if living in the same flat as their parents and two younger siblings. The parenthesis "regardless of whether the patient lives with parents / legal guardian or siblings" is the source document's own, not an inference.
Two further sentences follow that passage; both widen the definition, and both are easy to miss. The first: where the basic living needs of other family members living with the patient are supported by the patient's family (for example a dependent elderly member, an adult unable to live independently for lack of income or on a low income, or a person unable to care for themselves because of their own mental or physical condition), the patient or applicant may include those members in the financial assessment, submitting their income, asset and expenditure information together [Note 9]. The second: where an individual case has special family factors or circumstances requiring exceptional consideration, the medical social worker or social worker may exercise professional judgment and adjust the family size for that case at their discretion [Note 9].
In other words: family size is not a purely mechanical formula. A dependent elderly person living with you, an adult family member with no income whom you support, a family member living with you who cannot care for themselves because of their mental or physical condition — all can be counted in. But you have to raise it yourself, and submit their income, assets and expenditure with it.
The four footnotes are the source document's own definitions, quoted in full at [Note 10]. Footnote 5 in particular is worth reading twice: patients who are separated, divorced, in the course of divorce proceedings, or widowed fall into the "married" column under this mechanism — that is, a spouse living with them (if any) and dependent children are counted, and they are not treated as a one-person family.
⚠ Two groups should take note. Group 1: unmarried adult patients living with family — you will most likely be treated as a one-person family, with a far lower threshold, but equally you need submit only your own documents. Group 2: people supporting an elderly person or an adult without income living with them — you must raise it yourself for them to be included, and it will not happen automatically.
The two financial lines: the income table and the asset table — two sources, two update dates
The income line and the asset line have to be cleared together, and neither can be skipped; and the two tables are not one document. Each has its own data source and its own update cycle.
The two criteria on the page state: for a one-person family, monthly family income must not exceed 150% of the "median monthly domestic household income" (excluding foreign domestic helpers) applicable to that family size; for a family of two or more, it must not exceed 100% of that median; and the patient's family asset value must be below the asset limit set for that family size for eligibility to register on the public housing waiting list, with the first self-owned or purchased property in which the patient and their family members live together excluded from that asset value; and since most elderly people no longer earn any income, the asset limit for a family with an elderly member is higher [Note 11].
The two tables are set out separately, because they do not share a source: the income figures come from the Census and Statistics Department, the asset figures from the Housing Authority and the Housing Department.
| Household size | 150% of median income | 100% of median income | 75% of median income |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,450 | – | $7,725 |
| 2 | – | $24,200 | $18,150 |
| 3 | – | $40,200 | $30,150 |
| 4 | – | $55,100 | $41,325 |
| 5 or more | – | $51,100 | $38,325 |
| Household size | No elderly member | With 1 elderly member | With 2 elderly members |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $295,000 | $463,000 | – |
| 2 | $400,000 | $568,000 | $736,000 |
| 3 | $521,000 | $689,000 | $857,000 |
| 4 | $608,000 | $776,000 | $944,000 |
| 5 | $675,000 | $843,000 | $1,011,000 |
Three things that do not show on the surface and that bear directly on the reader.
First, the income line for five or more is lower than the line for four. $51,100 against $55,100, lower by $4,000; in the 75% column, $38,325 against $41,325, lower by $3,000. This is not a misprint — both language versions of the source page print it this way, because it reflects the Census and Statistics Department's household income medians themselves rather than a welfare formula in which more people means a looser line. The threshold for a household of five really is tighter than for a household of four.
Second, the last row of the two tables covers different household sizes, but the asset figure for a six-person household can be found — just not on this page. The last row of the income table is "5 or more", covering households of six and seven; the last row of the asset table is only "5", with no "or more". This page indeed does not print a row for six or more.
But that does not mean the figure is unpublished. The Hospital Authority's own criterion already says where the asset line comes from: "the patient's family asset value must be below the asset limit set for that family size for eligibility to register on the public housing waiting list". And the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version) puts the rule more plainly still: the asset limit is relaxed to the asset limit for public housing applications, while retaining the existing arrangement by which the asset limit may be raised by $168,000 for each elderly person [Note 12]. And the Housing Authority publishes the public housing application line on its own pages all the way to "10 or more persons".
| Household size | Net asset limit |
|---|---|
| 1 | $295,000 |
| 2 | $400,000 |
| 3 | $521,000 |
| 4 | $608,000 |
| 5 | $675,000 |
| 6 | $731,000 |
| 7 | $781,000 |
| 8 | $816,000 |
| 9 | $904,000 |
| 10 or more | $974,000 |
In one sentence: the asset line for a six-person household is $731,000, not "cannot be found". And that figure is not an extrapolation — the five cells for 1 to 5 persons are identical, cell by cell, to the "no elderly member" column on the Hospital Authority's waiver page, and the effective date matches the April 2026 the waiver page gives for itself. The Hospital Authority itself prints the same sequence from 1 person to 10 or more in table four of the Samaritan Fund's financial assessment page (self-dated as updated on 1 April 2026), stating that the disregard is set by reference to the asset limit currently used to assess whether an applicant qualifies to register on the public housing waiting list — though table four is the Fund's disregard on disposable assets, not the waiver's asset limit, and the two cannot be read together as one table.
Two further things to settle with the medical social worker, social worker or executive officer rather than to infer from this page. First, the Housing Authority's own treatment of elderly members differs from the Hospital Authority's: the Housing Authority's note (ii) reads that where all family members are elderly persons aged 60 or above, the net asset limit is twice the limit shown in the table; the Hospital Authority adds $168,000 for each person aged 65 or above. The two rules are different and the Housing Authority's cannot be carried across. Second, both tables are adjusted periodically, and what actually governs is the figure the Hospital Authority is using on the day you apply — the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet puts it that since the median monthly income and the public housing net asset limits are updated from time to time, the final assessment result is governed by the criteria in force when the waiver application is approved.
Third, the note under the asset table is a sum you can check yourself. For each additional person aged 65 or above the asset limit rises by $168,000 — a five-person household with no elderly member $675,000, with one elderly member $843,000 (168,000 added), with two $1,011,000 (336,000 added). All nine cells with elderly members in that table follow the same addition. Likewise the 75% column is three quarters of the 100% column (for a one-person household, the 150% column divided by 1.5 and then multiplied by 0.75).
Do the arithmetic (every figure from the two tables above): a patient of 26, unmarried, without children, living with their parents and a younger brother. The instinct is to look up the four-person row, see an income line of $55,100 and an asset line of $608,000, and conclude they must clear it. But on the definitions in the previous section they are a non-dependant and unmarried, and "will be regarded as a one-person family" — so the row that actually applies is the one-person row: income line $15,450, asset line $295,000. On the income line alone the difference is $39,650. Conversely, they need submit only their own income and asset documents, not their parents' or their brother's. Same person, same flat: read the wrong row and the answer goes from "must clear it" to "may not".
One step further: if their monthly income is $7,000, below the one-person 75% line ($7,725), and their assets are below $295,000, they are at the level the next section calls "may be considered for a full waiver". If their monthly income is $12,000, still below $15,450, both criteria are met and they can apply, but they are not below the 75% line.
⚠ If you have looked up the tables yourself before, concluded you could not qualify, and gone no further: settle your household size before reading the tables, and household size is not a count of how many people live in your home.
Clear both lines and a waiver follows? The words are "may be considered", and where that certificate travels
Below the 75% line, the words the source document uses are "may be considered", not "will be granted". Clearing the line opens a consideration, not an entitlement.
The page states that if a patient's family income is below 75% of the median monthly domestic household income applicable to their family size, and they meet the asset limit, they may be considered for a full waiver of medical service charges [Note 13]. That is: below the 75% line with the assets clear, and you enter the range of consideration for a full waiver; above the line but still meeting the two criteria in the previous section, and you enter the range of a partial waiver. This page publishes no table of "income at this level means a waiver of that percentage" — the waiver is full, partial or refused, and which of the three is for the assessor to decide.
The maximum validity is eighteen months, and it is set at discretion. The page states that an approved charge waiver will be either valid once only or valid for a period; that the assessor may, having regard to the patient's actual needs and circumstances, decide the length of that period at their discretion, with a maximum validity of eighteen months; that to assist chronically ill patients who must attend specialist outpatient follow-up frequently, specialist outpatient charge waivers will also be approved in advance according to individual circumstances; and that the waiver certificate issued applies not only at the public hospital or clinic where the patient was admitted, attended or was issued the certificate, but also at public healthcare institutions under the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health providing the same services, including inpatient services, outpatient services and community nursing services [Note 14].
There are three things in that passage.
(i) A waiver may be "valid once only". The validity is not automatically eighteen months; eighteen months is the ceiling. The Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet describes this enhancement as extending the maximum waiver validity from 12 months to 18 months — that is, the ceiling before the enhancement was twelve months.
(ii) Patients attending frequent follow-up may have specialist outpatient charge waivers approved in advance. That is an arrangement the page states itself, and it is worth raising when you see the medical social worker.
(iii) Once issued, that certificate covers more than the hospital or clinic that issued it. ⚠ But read it as the source document words it and no further. It is about where an already-issued certificate extends, and the condition of that extension falls on the words "the same services" — it is not a statement that Department of Health patients may apply, and it does not say that every charge on the Department of Health side is covered. Whether your particular service counts as "the same service" is to be confirmed with the assessor who issued the certificate. In the section on the Samaritan Fund below, the Fund's condition on status runs exactly the other way.
Fail the financial lines and there is no application? Five non-financial factors, and the Hospital Authority writes that the list is not exhaustive
No. Beyond the financial criteria the source document lists five non-financial factors, and immediately after listing them declares that the list is not exhaustive.
The five are: the patient's clinical condition (defined by the frequency with which the patient uses public healthcare services and the severity of the condition); whether the patient is a person with a disability, a single parent supporting children, or otherwise a member of a disadvantaged group; whether waiving the charge would enable and help the patient to resolve family problems; whether the patient has to meet any special expenditure making it difficult to pay public medical charges; or other reasonable social factors [Note 15].
The sentence that follows matters as much as the five and cannot be read apart from them: in considering those non-financial factors, medical social workers and social workers will ensure that elderly people or chronically ill patients who use public healthcare services frequently can also obtain a waiver if needed; the categories of non-financial factor cannot be exhaustively listed, and where necessary, patients who do not meet the financial factors but face particular hardship will be dealt with at discretion according to their individual circumstances [Note 15].
In one sentence: the five above are all the source document prints, but the source document itself says the categories cannot be exhaustively listed, and expressly says that patients who fail the financial criteria but face particular hardship will be handled at discretion. So "I am not in those five" does not entail "I cannot apply" — that inference is wrong, and the source document has ruled it out itself.
Note also how the first item is defined: clinical condition is "defined by the frequency with which the patient uses public healthcare services and the severity of the condition". Which is to say that the number of follow-up visits is itself a factor being counted.
Where do you actually go? Three places, but one of the doors does not open
Applications go to a medical social services department, a Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Service Centre, a Social Welfare Department Family and Child Protective Services Unit, or another designated service unit. And "Integrated Family Service Centre" carries an asterisk, whose answer is printed on the very last line of the whole page.
The page states that a waiver may be applied for at the medical social services departments of public hospitals and clinics, at Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Service Centres*, at Family and Child Protective Services Units or at other designated service units; that the applications are handled by medical social workers, social workers or executive officers; and that eligibility is assessed on a family basis [Note 16]. The "contact" section lists three lines, of which the third carries a restriction in brackets: the route through a Family and Child Protective Services Unit or other designated service unit applies only to cases already being followed up by a social worker of that unit.
The asterisk is explained on the last line of the whole page — after the footer date, the introductory leaflet and the video: *"Integrated Family Service Centres operated by subvented non-governmental organisations do not provide the service of applying for medical fee waivers" [Note 17]. The same sentence appears in the same position in the English version.
In one sentence: Integrated Family Service Centres come in two kinds; those run by the Social Welfare Department itself take applications, and those run by subvented non-governmental organisations do not. A substantial proportion of Hong Kong's Integrated Family Service Centres are run by non-governmental organisations, so this is not a triviality — go to the wrong one and the trip is wasted. To establish which kind the one near you is, the Social Welfare Department has official lists: Integrated Family Service Centres https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/family/cat_family/ifs/index.html ; Family and Child Protective Services Units https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/family/cat_familyandc/familyandc/index.html .
Go during office hours, and take both originals and copies of the documents. The page states that you should, during office hours, take the originals and copies of the documents to the medical social services department of a public hospital or clinic, to the Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Service Centre* for the district in which you live, to a Family and Child Protective Services Unit or to another designated service unit, and submit the completed application form [Note 18]. Note that the qualifier "for the district in which you live" attaches to the Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Service Centre.
The patient need not go in person. Others may submit the application on the patient's behalf, including a parent or guardian acting for a patient under eighteen, a person duly authorised by the patient (who must submit a completed authorisation form for applying for a medical fee waiver), a person appointed as the patient's guardian under the Mental Health Ordinance, or anyone acting as agent for a patient who is incapable of applying or unable to do so themselves [Note 19]. And where the person acting cannot obtain the original identity document, the same page carries a relaxation: the assessor may consider accepting a copy of the identity document for the application, except in particular situations where the original must be used to verify identity with other departments [Note 20].
The Hospital Authority has had a dedicated team since November 2025. A spokesman added in the Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 that the Hospital Authority would set up a dedicated team from November to ensure that medical fee waiver applications received by its public hospitals are handled in good time.
⚠ If you are planning to make an application on behalf of an elderly or infirm family member: you can, but you need a completed authorisation form; and if you cannot even get hold of the original identity card, the source document states that a copy may be considered.
What do you have to submit? Five classes of document, and one phrase: "at least the past six months"
The form has four parts, but what actually jams an application is not the form — it is the five classes of supporting document, and above all the time span in "at least the past six months".
The application form (the Hospital Authority's application form for waiving of medical charges, self-dated Ver. 1/2026 and effective 1 January 2026, bilingual, 13 pages) is structured as: Part One, patient information; Part Two, the patient's family financial situation; Part Three, other family circumstances; Part 4, declaration and warranty. Under "Note:" on the cover there are three points [Note 21], two of which look trivial but are grounds for having the form handed back: corrections must be struck through and initialled, and correction fluid must not be used; and amounts need not be written to the decimal place. The banner across the top of the form reads that applying for a fee waiver rests on integrity and that declarations must be truthful.
⚠ And what most easily jams an application whose documents are all present is the signatures, not the documents. Part 4 comes in two halves: (A) signed by the patient and the applicant; (B) signed by the patient's family members. Half (B) states that each member of the patient's family (if any) signs this declaration affirming that all information about themselves on the application form (including information in supporting documents) is complete, accurate, timely and true [Note 22]. Below half (B) the form prints three sets of "signature of patient's family member" fields, each with name, date and identity card or travel document number. And below the signature fields of both halves sits the same footnote: "^ The signature must be the same as the specimen signature kept by the bank."
Which is to say: a family included in the financial assessment does not sign as "the patient or the applicant alone" — every member included has to sign in person, and the signature must match the one at the bank (because the same half of the form also authorises the Hospital Authority to verify information with banks, employers and government departments). An applicant who brings the complete set of documents but whose family did not come along and did not sign in advance is submitting an incomplete application — and the premise of the "as soon as the same day" in the fourth clock below is precisely the word "complete".
The document list on the page comes in five classes, quoted in full at [Note 23]: (i) proof of identity; (ii) proof of living together; (iii) proof of income (employees need at least the past six months of bank passbooks, statements, salary statements or an employer's income certificate, MPF contribution records, tax returns and so on; the self-employed or those running a business need profit and loss accounts, tax returns and so on; the unemployed need proof of unemployment; other income covers allowances, alimony, rental income, and annuity or insurance income); (iv) proof of assets; (v) proof of major expenditure.
Several things in that list are easy to miss: the asset item expressly includes assets "in Hong Kong or outside Hong Kong" and bank accounts that have been "closed"; electronic wallets (PayMe, Alipay, WeChat Pay) require screenshots of the past six months of transactions and balances; assets managed for others and assets entrusted to others must both be declared; joint accounts have their own method (generally divided equally by the number of holders unless documents are produced showing how the sum is allocated); and class (v), proof of major expenditure, is the only class of document that works in the applicant's favour (rent, mortgage, medical receipts), yet it comes last and is the easiest to leave out.
"At least the past six months" is a floor, not a ceiling. The page states that the assessor will use at least the past six months of financial information for the assessment, and may, depending on the individual application, require other documents, information covering more than 6 months, enquiries into the purpose of particular withdrawals or deposits and into income and expenditure records, and may where necessary contact the patient, family or other persons for clarification, further supporting documents or verification [Note 24]. The same "note" passage carries a further sentence on documents going stale: if information that is not timely is provided when the application is made, or if information already submitted needs updating, the assessor may require all timely information to be submitted afresh [Note 24]. In other words: leave it too long and you may have to submit the whole set again.
Three simplified routes can save a large stack of documents, and one of them skips the assessment entirely.
The first: someone in your household already holds a waiver. The page states that where the patient has a family member living with them who is included in the financial assessment and who holds a valid waiver certificate, the applicant need not undergo a full financial assessment; the Hospital Authority will refer to the financial information that family member submitted and will require only necessary or missing information from the patient, without assessing everything from the beginning, and the patient obtains a waiver at the same level as that family member up to the valid date of that approved waiver; however, after approval, if the family's financial or family circumstances change, or the review mechanism or another reason requires reassessment, this simplified arrangement may terminate immediately without further notice [Note 25].
⚠ That route has a ceiling that is easy to miss: what you get is a waiver "at the same level as that family member". Which is to say that if the person in your household holds a partial waiver, what you get by this route is also partial, and will not become a full waiver because your own circumstances differ; the validity follows theirs too. To get an independent assessment result you must go through the full financial assessment.
The second: recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 74 or below. The page states that they may submit proof of receiving the Old Age Living Allowance to be exempted from submitting certain documents for the means test.
| Documents exempted | Including 1 Old Age Living Allowance recipient | Including 2 Old Age Living Allowance recipients |
|---|---|---|
| 1-person household | Exempted from submitting asset documents | Not applicable |
| 2-person household | Exempted from submitting income documents | Exempted from submitting income and asset documents |
This is an exemption from documents, not from eligibility. Recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 74 or below still have to apply and still have to pass the means test; they are simply spared certain classes of document. Recipients aged 75 or above are one of the three automatically exempted groups in the first section and need not apply at all. Seventy-five separates two entirely different treatments.
The third: you already hold a "partial waiver" certificate — this route needs no documents and no fresh assessment. Under the heading for existing holders of medical fee waiver certificates, the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet writes two sentences: patients currently holding a waiver certificate (whether full or partial) continue to receive the waiver without reapplying, until its validity ends; and where a patient was issued a "partial" waiver certificate on financial grounds and meets the relaxed criteria for a full waiver, they may, within the three months before a booked appointment or after an inpatient stay, go to the dedicated team, declare that their financial situation has not changed significantly, and thereupon receive a full waiver under the new criteria without a further assessment, valid until the expiry date of the original waiver certificate [Note 26].
The Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 says the same thing with two differences of wording, both of which affect how you actually go about it, so both documents are set out [Note 27]: the press release version separates the "within three months" expressly into "within the three months before a booked appointment" and "within the three months after an inpatient stay"; and on where to go, the press release says the medical social services department while the information sheet says the dedicated team. To take this route, telephone that hospital's medical social services department before going and establish which counter it is.
Why this passage matters. First, its subject is people who already hold a certificate and hold a partial waiver — that is, people approved before the relaxation of 1 January 2026 and granted only part of it under the tighter old criteria. After the relaxation, the same family may well fall into the full-waiver range. Second, what it asks for is not a fresh application but a declaration, after which there is "no further assessment". Third, it is not part of the transitional window of January to March 2026 — the next section explains that that window has closed, but what this passage is tied to is the expiry date of the original waiver certificate and the three months before an appointment or after an inpatient stay. Fourth, the first half of the same sentence is also a guarantee: an old certificate does not lapse because the mechanism was enhanced.
⚠ Two groups should take note. Group 1: households where someone already holds a waiver certificate — the second person does not need a full assessment, which the source document states plainly but most people will not know, and will instead submit another complete set of documents unchanged; remember the ceiling above, though, in that what you get is their level. Group 2: people whose certificate says "partial waiver" — you are the subject of the third route: no reapplication, no resubmission of documents, no fresh assessment.
Four clocks are running — and the one you most want, the approval clock, has its key in your hands
Time is the easiest place in this application to lose out, because there are four different deadlines with different starting points; and on the one readers most want — when will it be approved — what the Hospital Authority publishes is a conditional fastest case, not a usual time taken.
The first clock: 30 days, running from the day the medical social worker asks. The page states that if the patient or applicant fails to submit the completed application form and all the information or documents required within 30 days of the assessor's request, the application will be cancelled without further notice [Note 28]. The English version of the same sentence reads "within 30 calendar days from the date of request made by MSWs / SWs / EOs". In other words: those 30 days do not run from the day you submit the application, but from the day the social worker asks you for documents.
The second clock: three months, running from the date the bill was issued — the one most people fall foul of. There are two different clocks inside that same passage and they are easily confused: under Gazette Notice No. 6792, an administrative charge of 5% of the outstanding amount is imposed 60 days after the date of issue of the bill (subject to a maximum of $1,000 per bill), and 10% 90 days after (subject to a maximum of $10,000 per bill) — those two are the administrative charge clocks; while the three months is a different matter: unless there are special circumstances or a reasonable explanation, the assessor will generally not process a waiver application more than three months from the date of issue of the bill [Note 29]. Which is to say: leaving that bill at home for more than three months is not merely late — it may mean there is no application to make.
The two administrative charges are cumulative; the later does not replace the earlier. The Chinese text joins items (i) and (ii) with "and"; the English on the same page is plainer still: an additional administrative charge of a further 10% on the outstanding fees amount shall be imposed if the bills remain outstanding 90 days from issuance [Note 30].
Do the arithmetic (every figure from the passage quoted above): an unsettled bill of $20,000. Past 60 days, 5% is $1,000 (not yet above the $1,000 cap). Still unsettled at 90 days, a further 10% is $2,000 (not yet above the $10,000 cap). The two together are $3,000, not $2,000. ⚠ Note also that the $10,000 there is the cap on the administrative charge for a single bill, an entirely different figure from the annual charge cap of ten thousand dollars a year in item (iii) above; do not confuse them.
The third clock: eighteen months, running from the day of the first approval. The page states that where a patient has previously submitted documents for a means test and been granted a waiver (a first application), and applies again within eighteen months of that first approval, then if their financial situation has not changed materially so as to affect their eligibility, they may continue to be granted a waiver without submitting documents for a means test, up to a maximum of eighteen months from the first approval [Note 31]. In other words: the eighteen months run from the first approval, not afresh from each renewal. If your first approval was valid for only six months, then when you apply again six months later, the document-free arrangement can carry you only to the eighteenth month after the first approval.
"Without submitting documents" does not mean nothing to do — a declaration has to be signed. The waiver page does not say what has to be signed, but two other Hospital Authority documents do [Note 32]: on reapplying for a waiver within at most 18 months, you need only sign a declaration confirming that the family's financial situation has not changed significantly, without resubmitting financial documents. Both documents point to the same action — you still have to go in person to sign that declaration; what is saved is documents, not a journey.
The fourth clock: the approval itself — what the Hospital Authority publishes is "as soon as the same day", with the condition written into the same sentence. Page 6 of the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version) states that once the patient has submitted all family income and asset information and provided the relevant supporting documents, the application may be approved as soon as the same day [Note 33]. Page 7 of the same booklet states that on receipt of complete and accurate supporting documents, the Hospital Authority will process the application at once [Note 33].
Those two sentences have to be read together, because the condition and the result are tied. The first half of each says the same thing: complete, and accurate. So "as soon as the same day" is not a figure you queue for; it is a figure you control — bring all five classes of document at once and you are buying time itself. Conversely, one missing document sends you back to the 30-day clock above.
But be clear what kind of figure this is: it is a fastest case, not a usual time taken. The source document's word is "as soon as", not "usually". The same body, writing about a different scheme on the annual charge cap page, does use "usually": the assessment process usually takes 14 days [Note 34]. In one sentence: the cap side publishes a usual value (usually 14 days) and the waiver side publishes a best case (as soon as the same day); the two are not interchangeable, and neither is an answer to "how many weeks does approval usually take". This article sets out no figure of the kind circulating for "how many weeks it usually takes", because no such item appears in the documents the Hospital Authority has published.
⚠ Two groups should take note. Group 1: people with a stack of unsettled public hospital bills who are thinking of saving them up and applying once — the three-month line runs from each bill's own date of issue, and the longer you save them the more of them fall outside the range. Group 2: people thinking they will "go and ask first and bring the documents later" — the premise of "as soon as the same day" is that you brought everything that day; going twice moves you out of the fourth clock and into the first.
Refused, granted only in part, or reviewed after approval — what then?
The appeal period against a result is four weeks, and there are two different appeals going to different people.
The first, against the outcome of the application: if the patient or applicant disagrees with the outcome, an appeal must be lodged within four weeks of receiving notification of the outcome from the Hospital Authority or the Social Welfare Department, with details available from the office handling the application or from the patient relations officer of the hospital concerned [Note 35]. The second, against the outcome of a review: if they disagree with the review outcome, an appeal must be lodged within four weeks of receiving the Hospital Authority's review outcome or of the date of issue of the review outcome notification (where applicable), with details available from the patient relations officer of the hospital handling the review [Note 35].
Both periods are "four weeks", and the Chinese and English texts agree (the English reads "within four weeks" in both places). Four weeks is not thirty days, and that other deadline elsewhere on the same page is about submitting documents, not about appealing — two figures, two different things, not interchangeable. The two appeals also go to different people.
There is also review after approval. The Hospital Authority set up a Review Unit (Waiver Applications) in March 2007, renamed the Medical Fee Waiver Unit in 2008, responsible for preventing and detecting fraud and abuse of medical fee waivers, the Samaritan Fund and the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme, and for taking appropriate action against persons suspected of fraud-related offences; the review mechanism conducts in-depth investigation of suspected fraud cases, carries out regular random checks on approved cases, reviews high-risk cases, and cross-checks information with parts of the Hospital Authority, government departments, banks, employers and others [Note 36].
Note the remit of that unit: one unit reviews the medical fee waiver, the Samaritan Fund and the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme together. That is the Hospital Authority's own statement, and it is one source of the confusion the next section deals with — the three schemes are administratively one family but substantively three different things.
Changes during the period must be reported, and the list states itself that it is not exhaustive. The page states that after submitting an application or providing a declaration, and while a waiver certificate is valid, if the family's financial or family circumstances change so as to affect eligibility, the patient or applicant must immediately notify the Hospital Authority and provide all relevant information for a fresh means test, that information including but not limited to five items: a change in employment; a change in income (an increase or decrease in actual monthly income, bonuses, double pay, pensions and so on); a change in the source of finances (alimony, financial help from relatives or friends, compensation received monthly or periodically, and so on); a change in family circumstances; and a change in assets (for example insurance compensation received, or increases or decreases in bank accounts or other investments) [Note 37].
The words "including but not limited to" that head that sentence are the source document's own — the five are examples, not a complete list. Note that the second expressly includes bonuses and double pay, and the fifth expressly includes insurance compensation: both are one-off credits, and both are easily assumed not to count as income or assets.
The source document is blunt about the consequences of a false declaration: providing incomplete, inaccurate, untimely or erroneous information on the application form or a declaration may lead to refusal of the application, or to the partial or complete withdrawal of a waiver already granted, and/or to criminal prosecution; and in that event the Hospital Authority will treat any medical charges waived before the withdrawal as a debt and will pursue it. Footnote 8 states that this includes the special social, family or financial factors or circumstances the assessor originally took into account at their discretion on the basis of the declaration or other information, which may likewise be withdrawn where incomplete, inaccurate, untimely or erroneous information was provided. The source page also states that obtaining a medical fee waiver by deception is a criminal offence, prosecutable under the Theft Ordinance (Chapter 210 of the Laws of Hong Kong), carrying on conviction imprisonment for ten years [Note 38].
⚠ Two groups should take note. Group 1: people who have received a notice of refusal or of partial approval — you have four weeks, not a month and a few days, and the clock runs from the day you received the notice. Group 2: people already holding a waiver who have since changed jobs or received a sum of insurance compensation — what the source document says is that you "must immediately notify the Hospital Authority", not that you mention it at your next follow-up.
The medical fee waiver and the Samaritan Fund: two means tests, the same medical social worker, the same review unit
Both schemes are means-tested — each with one route by which the means test can be avoided or not repeated — both are done by medical social workers, and both come under the same review unit, which makes them extremely easy to confuse. But they pay for different things and are open to different people.
| Medical fee waiver | Samaritan Fund | |
|---|---|---|
| What it subsidises | Charges of public hospitals and clinics | Self-financed drugs and medical items |
| Who it applies to | The waiver certificate applies at "public healthcare institutions under the HA and the Department of Health providing the same services" | "Patients receiving assistance from the Fund must be Hospital Authority (HA) patients" |
| Any clinical gate | None. Clinical condition is only one of the five non-financial factors | Yes. Non-drug items must be assessed as necessary by a Hospital Authority doctor or allied health professional; drug items require a treatment plan issued by a designated Hospital Authority doctor |
| How assets are counted | Against the public housing waiting list asset limit; the first self-owned or purchased property lived in is excluded | One-off non-drug items: by a multiple of the item's estimated cost or deposit (within twice, generally fully subsidised) |
| Any sliding scale | Not published on the source page. Full, partial, or refused | Yes. The financial assessment page carries two progressive calculation tables (table two and table five) |
| Can the means test be skipped | To a limited extent. A patient already holding a "partial" waiver certificate who meets the relaxed criteria for a full waiver need only declare that their financial situation has not changed significantly to be upgraded to a full waiver "without a further assessment"; but that route applies only to that upgrade, and a first application still goes through the complete means test | Yes. For particular extremely expensive drugs, a patient willing to pay the maximum patient co-payment (HK$1 million) "need not submit the required documents to the medical social worker for a means test" |
| Who assesses | Medical social worker / social worker / executive officer | Medical social worker |
| Appeal period | Four weeks (two of them: against the application outcome and against the review outcome) | (See that scheme's own page) |
Four differences are worth taking one at a time, because each changes the answer to "where should I go".
First, the gate on status. As the source document words it, the waiver certificate applies at public healthcare institutions under the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health providing the same services; while the first sentence of the Samaritan Fund's eligibility page is that patients receiving assistance from the Fund must be Hospital Authority patients and must meet the following conditions (the source page prints two colons there, reproduced as found). In one sentence: for a patient attending follow-up at a Department of Health clinic, the charges side has the extension arrangement for the waiver certificate, but self-financed drugs cannot go straight to the Fund.
And the "status requirement" among those conditions has two legs, the second of which is missed if only the first sentence is read: the patient must hold the status of an "eligible person" as defined in the Hospital Authority Ordinance published in the Gazette, or the patient must be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Immigration Ordinance (applicable only to particular extremely expensive drugs) [Note 39]. That is: the Fund's status requirement is generally "eligible person", but for particular extremely expensive drugs a permanent residence route is opened — a leg that exists only for that class of drug and is not a general relaxation.
Second, the clinical gate. The waiver's entry conditions are financial and social; nothing in them requires a doctor to think you need anything. The Fund is different: non-drug items must be assessed as necessary by a Hospital Authority doctor or allied health professional under the Hospital Authority's prevailing clinical guidelines; drug items require a treatment plan issued by a designated Hospital Authority doctor [Note 40]. That is: on the Fund side, a drug item's door opens only once a designated Hospital Authority doctor has issued a treatment plan, while non-drug items are somewhat looser.
Third, no sliding scale against a sliding scale. On the waiver side the source page has only the single 75% line separating "may be considered for a full waiver" from the rest, and publishes no schedule of co-payment proportions declining with income. The Fund side has not one but two, each published on the Fund's financial assessment page: table two (one-off non-drug items, with the co-payment proportion set by the family's assets relative to the item's cost) and table five (drugs or non-one-off non-drug items, with the co-payment proportion set by the annual disposable financial resources).
Fourth, the buy-out at one million. The hash footnote on the Fund's eligibility page states that for particular extremely expensive drugs, if the patient or applicant, having reviewed the family's disposable financial resources and understood the means-test criteria for the item, is willing to pay the maximum patient co-payment for this application (that is, HK$1 million), then they need not submit the required documents to the medical social worker for a means test, though they must make the relevant declaration; and that drug subsidy approved by the Fund begins only after the maximum co-payment has been paid [Note 41]. In other words: the Fund has a route by which paying the maximum co-payment means no means test, and the waiver has no equivalent arrangement at all. That is the sharpest structural difference between the two schemes.
Those four are the differences; and the two schemes have far more in common than most people assume, deliberately so. The annex to the Government press release of 25 March 2025 — the one the waiver page itself links to — describes the amendment of the family definition as relaxing the definition of "family" to align with the definition under the safety net* for self-financed drugs or medical items, with the asterisk noted as including the Samaritan Fund [Note 42].
That is: the two schemes' definitions of "family" are aligned as a matter of policy, not by coincidence. How far the alignment reaches is visible on the two schemes' own pages: the whole "family" definition table is identical cell by cell, the definition of "dependant" is the same, the provision for including members living with and supported by the patient's family is the same, the provision for a medical social worker's discretion to adjust family size is the same, and the "at least the past six months" basis of calculation is the same. The five rows of income limits are the same figures too, and the Hospital Authority has said why — writing about the Fund's one-off non-drug items, the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet says that the income limit is relaxed, with the 1-person household income limit relaxed to 1.5 times that under the existing mechanism, aligned with the enhancements to the medical fee waiver mechanism [Note 43].
For the reader that is more useful than the differences: the household size you work out for the waiver application is the same answer the Fund will use. You do not have to work it out twice for the two schemes. But the two income tables carry different update dates of their own: the waiver page says updated in May 2026, while table one on the Fund's financial assessment page says updated on 30 May 2026. Same figures, two dates — cite whichever table you are using with the date on that page.
How the Samaritan Fund works, which drugs it subsidises and how its means test is calculated are not repeated here; see 〈Eczema medication and the public dermatology service〉.
And there is a third scheme, whose name is worth recognising in passing: the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme. It comes under the same review unit as in the previous section, and likewise subsidises self-financed items. It is not opened up here.
⚠ If you are looking for help with drug costs: your route is the Fund and not the waiver; a drug item's door opens only once a designated Hospital Authority doctor has issued a treatment plan, while for a non-drug item an assessment of necessity by a doctor or allied health professional suffices; and if you are a Department of Health patient, you will find that the two sides answer differently. Conversely, if it is consultation fees, inpatient charges or investigation charges you cannot pay, the waiver is your route.
What does this mechanism not solve?
The waiver deals with the charges of public hospitals and clinics, not with all your medical spending; and several things about it are either unpublished in the source documents themselves or have already expired.
(i) Self-financed drugs and self-financed medical items are outside what the waiver deals with. Those belong to the Samaritan Fund or the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme.
(ii) The "conditional waiver" was a transitional arrangement, and the document states it was a matter of January to March 2026. Under the heading for transitional arrangements for medical fee waivers, the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet states that conditional waivers were to be arranged for patients in need during January to March 2026: a patient unable to afford medical charges for financial reasons, unable to provide sufficient valid documents to complete the means test, but needing same-day or urgent treatment, could sign a declaration and state their approximate financial situation and be issued a "conditional waiver" valid for three months; the patient must submit all documents to the medical social services department (dedicated team) within the validity period for a financial assessment, and if unable to submit the documents within the deadline or not eligible, must then settle all charges payable [Note 44]. The passage in the Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 on the same subject opens with the time limit itself: to handle the additional waiver applications, the Hospital Authority would adopt a series of special transitional arrangements during the transition period next year up to March.
Both documents tie the "conditional waiver" to the window of January to March 2026, and that window has closed. And the version of the current mechanism (footer self-dated May 2026) contains no such arrangement at all, in either language. This article therefore will not tell anyone to rely on it; and whether it continued after March is something the documents cited here do not say.
⚠ But keep them apart: in the same information sheet, the heading immediately after "conditional waiver" is the one for existing holders of medical fee waiver certificates, and that passage carries no time limit. For someone already holding a partial waiver, the upgrade route is tied to the expiry date of their own certificate and to the three-month window before an appointment or after an inpatient stay, not to the period ending in March. The two passages sit next to each other and are easily taken together as expired — do not read them as one.
(iii) The means-test calculator is preliminary reference, not approval. The waiver page says so plainly: the calculator is for the patient or applicant to make a preliminary assessment of whether their family's financial situation meets the criteria for applying, but the result is for reference only, and a formal application must be submitted and the assessor's means test passed before a waiver can be granted [Note 45].
In one sentence: the calculator saying you "qualify" does not mean you have a waiver, and its saying you "do not qualify" does not mean you should not go and ask — because the calculator computes the two financial lines, and as set out above, beyond the financial lines there are non-financial factors and a discretion, which the calculator cannot compute. The calculator: https://ewsecal.ha.org.hk/calculator/index.html?lang=tc
(iv) The phrase "under 65" is about who gained something, not about who was excluded. If you are 65 or above and hold a period waiver, this item takes nothing away from you. It is worth setting out separately, because reading only one of the documents easily produces the opposite conclusion.
On the item extending the coverage of period waivers to episodic outpatient services, the Hospital Authority and the Government used two forms of wording: the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet says the coverage of period medical fee waivers for people under 65 is extended; the Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 says the coverage of period medical fee waivers is extended to episodic family medicine outpatient services, with no age qualifier; page 3 of the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet says that all holders of period medical fee waivers need not make a separate application for a fee waiver for episodic general outpatient services, saying "all"; and page 2 of the English version of the same information sheet (self-dated 12/2025) likewise carries no age qualifier [Note 46].
The answer is in a footnote to the annex to the Government press release, and that document is one the waiver page links to itself. Footnote 2 to the annex on enhanced medical protection measures of 25 March 2025 states that at present, a holder of a period medical fee waiver under 65 who needs episodic general outpatient services has to apply to a (medical) social worker for a one-off medical fee waiver; while a person aged 65 or above need not make a separate application for a fee waiver [Note 47].
In one sentence: holders of a period waiver aged 65 or above never had to make a separate application; what this enhancement removes is the one-off application that only the under-65 group had to make. So "under 65" says who gained something and "all holders" describes the position after the change — two ways of writing about two points in time in the same matter, not a contradiction.
The practical effect for the reader: if you are 65 or above and hold a period medical fee waiver certificate, you do not need to make a separate application on account of this item when you attend episodic general or family medicine outpatient services — and you never did.
⚠ A note on wording: the earlier documents (the annex of March 2025, the booklet of April 2025) say "general outpatient"; the later ones (the press release of October 2025, the information sheet of November) say "family medicine outpatient" or "family medicine clinic". This article reproduces each document's own wording and does not harmonise them; which clinic falls into which class in practice is to be confirmed with the clinic.
(v) This certificate is not a price list. Clearing the line is "may be considered", not "will be granted"; and the source page publishes no income bands corresponding to full or partial.
What to do next
- Settle the household size before reading the tables. An unmarried adult patient who is not a dependant is a one-person family even living with parents and siblings — income $15,450, assets $295,000. Read the wrong row and the answer goes from "must clear it" to "may not".
- If you support an elderly person or a family member without income living with you, raise it so they are included. It will not happen automatically, and once included both the household size and the threshold change.
- Bring all five classes of document at once. The premise of "as soon as the same day" is "complete and accurate"; one missing document sends you back to the 30-day clock, which runs from the day the social worker asks, and a late application is cancelled without further notice.
- Bring every family member included in the assessment to sign. Part 4 half (B) requires each included member to sign in person, and the signature must match the one at the bank.
- Do not save up bills. Past three months from the date the bill was issued, a waiver application for that bill "will generally not be processed"; and the administrative charges at 60 days and 90 days are cumulative.
- If your certificate says "partial waiver", go and make that declaration. No reapplication, no documents, no fresh assessment; the timing is within the three months before a booked appointment or after an inpatient stay, at the medical social services department or the dedicated team.
- If someone in your household already holds a waiver, the second person does not need a full assessment. But what you get is their level and their validity — for an independent result, go through the full assessment.
- If your income or assets miss the line by a little, it is still worth trying. The source document lists five non-financial factors and expressly states that the categories of non-financial factor cannot be exhaustively listed, and that patients who fail the financial criteria but face particular hardship will be dealt with at discretion.
- On receiving a notice of refusal or partial approval, remember it is four weeks, not 30 days. And there are two different appeals, going to different people.
- Be clear which route you need. Consultation fees, inpatient charges and investigation charges you cannot pay: the waiver. Self-financed drugs or self-financed medical items: the Samaritan Fund. How the new fee schedule itself and the annual cap of ten thousand dollars work are in 〈Public hospital charges in 2026〉; the Fund's list of subsidised drugs and how disposable financial resources are calculated are in 〈Eczema medication and the public dermatology service〉. For a comparison of the alternatives to waiting in the public system, see the article cited at item (v) above.
- If you are 65 or above and hold a period waiver, no separate application is needed for episodic outpatient services. Do not read "extending the coverage for people under 65" as meaning the arrangement does not concern you.
Frequently asked questions
I live with my parents and siblings — am I counted as a four-person household?
Usually not. The Hospital Authority's table says that a patient who is unmarried and not a dependant "will be regarded as a one-person family (regardless of whether the patient lives with parents/legal guardian or siblings)". A dependant is defined as unmarried and either under 18, or aged 18 to 25 and in full-time education; a patient not meeting that description is classified as a non-dependant — which is to say an unmarried full-time student aged 18 to 25 is still a dependant and not a one-person family, and those who actually fall into the non-dependent, one-person group are unmarried patients aged 26 or above, or aged 18 to 25 and not in full-time education. The threshold is therefore the one-person row — income $15,450, assets $295,000; but that $295,000 is the "no elderly member" cell, and if the patient is themselves 65 or above the asset limit rises to $463,000. If married (which the source document notes includes patients who are separated, divorced, in the course of divorce proceedings or widowed), the spouse and dependent children are counted.
How long does approval take?
The Hospital Authority has published a fastest case, with a condition attached. Page 6 of the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version): on an application for a medical fee waiver, once the patient has submitted all family income and asset information and provided the relevant supporting documents, the application may be approved as soon as the same day. Page 7 of the same document: on receipt of complete and accurate supporting documents, the Hospital Authority will process the application at once, aiming to approve the fee waiver for the patient as quickly as possible. The premise of both is documents that are complete and accurate. Note that this is "as soon as", not "usually" — the same body, writing about a different scheme on the annual charge cap page, uses "the assessment process usually takes 14 days", and the waiver side publishes no corresponding usual value. So the accounts in circulation of "how many weeks approval usually takes" have no source in the Hospital Authority's published documents, and this article has not adopted them.
I already hold a waiver certificate — what do I have to do after the 2026 enhancements?
There are three situations, and none of them requires starting again. (i) The certificate remains valid: the passage on existing holders of medical fee waiver certificates in the Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet states that certificates currently held (whether full or partial) continue to attract the waiver, without reapplying, until their validity ends. (ii) If your certificate says "partial" and you meet the relaxed criteria for a full waiver, the same passage says you may, within the three months before a booked appointment or after an inpatient stay, go to the dedicated team, declare that your financial situation has not changed significantly, and thereupon receive a full waiver under the new criteria without a further assessment, valid until the expiry date of the original certificate; the Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 says the same thing but gives the place as the medical social services department. (iii) If you are 65 or above and hold a period waiver, you never needed a separate application for episodic general or family medicine outpatient services — footnote 2 to the annex to the Government press release: a person aged 65 or above need not make a separate application for a fee waiver.
Can I have it reviewed or appeal a refusal, and within how many days?
It is four weeks, not 30 days, and there are two of them: if you disagree with the outcome of the application, lodge an appeal within four weeks of receiving notification from the Hospital Authority or the Social Welfare Department, with the office handling the application or the patient relations officer of the hospital concerned; if you disagree with the outcome of a review, lodge an appeal within four weeks of receiving the review outcome or of the date of issue of the notification, with the patient relations officer of the hospital handling the review. The "30 days" elsewhere on that page is about submitting documents — if the completed form and all required information are not submitted within 30 days of a request by a medical social worker, social worker or executive officer, the application is cancelled without further notice.
Can the waiver certificate be used only at the hospital that issued it?
No. The waiver page states that the waiver certificate issued applies not only at the public hospital or clinic where the patient was admitted, attended or was issued the certificate, but also at public healthcare institutions under the Hospital Authority and the Department of Health providing the same services, including inpatient services, outpatient services and community nursing services. Note that the condition of the extension is the words "the same services", and whether yours counts is to be confirmed with the assessor who issued it. Note the converse too: the Samaritan Fund's eligibility page states that patients receiving assistance from the Fund must be Hospital Authority patients — the self-financed drug route does not work this way.
The bill has been sitting for a few months — can I still apply?
Possibly not. The waiver page states that unless there are special circumstances or a reasonable explanation, a medical social worker, social worker or executive officer "will generally not process a medical fee waiver application more than three months from the date of issue of the bill". Separately, under Notice No. 6792, administrative charges of 5% of the outstanding amount (maximum $1,000 per bill) and 10% (maximum $10,000 per bill) are imposed 60 days and 90 days respectively after the bill is issued.
My income or assets miss the line by a little — is there anything else to try?
Yes. The waiver page lists five non-financial factors (clinical condition; disability, single parenthood or membership of a disadvantaged group; whether it would help resolve family problems; special expenditure; other reasonable social factors), and the same passage states that the categories of non-financial factor cannot be exhaustively listed, and that patients who fail the financial criteria but face particular hardship will be dealt with at discretion according to their individual circumstances. The two financial criteria also carry the note that where the financial factors are not met, other non-financial factors may be provided for the medical social worker's or social worker's consideration.
Notes: the original texts
[Note 1] Hospital Authority, medical fee waiver page for eligible persons:
After the public healthcare fee reform of January 2026, the Hospital Authority (the "HA") continues to uphold the Government's fundamental principle that no member of the public should be denied adequate medical treatment through lack of means. The HA therefore operates a medical fee waiver mechanism to assist patients in need. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「在2026年1月公營醫療收費改革後，醫院管理局（下稱「醫管局」）繼續貫徹政府的基本理念，即是不會有市民因經濟原因而得不到適當的醫療照顧。因此，醫管局設有醫療費用減免機制，為有需要的病人提供援助。」
[Note 2] The same, "target" section:
Recipients of Comprehensive Social Security Assistance from the Social Welfare Department (the "SWD"), holders of a level 0 residential care service voucher under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly 1, and recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above (including under the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme) 2 need only inform hospital or clinic staff at each registration for treatment that they are persons "eligible for a medical fee waiver" and produce proof of identity; once staff confirm eligibility through the online enquiry system, the charges for public healthcare services are waived. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「社會福利署（下稱「社署」）的綜合社會保障援助受助人，長者院舍照顧服務券計劃級別0院舍券持有人 1 和75歲或以上長者生活津貼（包括廣東計劃及福建計劃下）受惠人 2 只須於每次登記求診時通知醫院／診所職員乃「符合醫療費用豁免資格人士」，並出示身份證明文件，職員透過聯機查詢系統確認資格後，即可獲豁免公營醫療服務的收費。」
[Note 3] Hospital Authority, annual charge cap page for eligible persons:
Strengthening medical protection is an important part of the public healthcare fee reform. From 1 January 2026, outside the medical fee waiver mechanism, the Hospital Authority (the HA) has established a second layer of safety net, setting for eligible patients an annual cap of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars on public healthcare service charges — the "annual charge cap". (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「加強醫療保障是公營醫療收費改革重要的一環。由2026年1月1日起，醫院管理局（醫管局）於醫療費用減免機制外，建立第二層安全網，為合資格病人設立無需經濟審查的每年一萬港元公營醫療服務費用上限–「全年收費上限」。」
[Note 4] The same, "eligibility":
Must be an eligible person* / The patient has paid a cumulative total of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars in "eligible medical fees and charges" within the year / At the time of applying for the "annual charge cap", the patient has no outstanding "eligible medical fees and charges" anywhere in the HA / The hospital services the patient received must not have been determined by the HA as having "no clinical need" (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「必須為符合資格人士*／病人於年度內累計繳付的「合資格醫療費用及收費」達到一萬港元／在申請「全年收費上限」時，在醫管局轄下無任何拖欠的「合資格醫療費用及收費」／病人接受之醫院服務不得被醫管局裁定為「無臨床需要」」
[Note 5] Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025:
Eligible persons attending outpatient services at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital will continue to be exempted from the following charges: the consultation and prescribed drug charges of family medicine clinics (excluding integrated clinics) (applicable to all eligible persons) / the consultation charge of specialist outpatient clinics (excluding integrated clinics and allied health clinics) (applicable only to eligible persons aged 75 or above, or 12 or below) (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「符合資格人士於東華東院、東華醫院及廣華醫院的門診服務求診將會繼續獲豁免繳付以下費用：家庭醫學診所（不包括綜合診所）的診治及處方藥物費用（適用於所有符合資格人士）／專科門診診所（不包括綜合診所及專職醫療診所）的診治費用（只適用於年齡為75 歲或以上，或12 歲或以下的符合資格人士）」
[Note 6] The waiver page:
In addition, to protect the three groups of people not receiving the above social welfare — people on low incomes, people with chronic illness and poor elderly patients — the medical fee waiver mechanism spares them a heavy financial burden. The Government strengthened the waiver mechanism then in force on the following principles: (i) public money should be concentrated on subsidising the disadvantaged and those services that impose a heavy financial burden on patients; (ii) in assessing whether a patient qualifies for a waiver of public medical charges, an objective and transparent set of criteria should be set, while both financial and non-financial factors must be considered; (iii) the strengthened mechanism should be convenient for the public to use while keeping the administrative and operating costs required at their present low level. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「此外，為保障沒有領取上述社會福利的三類人士，包括：低收入人士、長期病患者及貧困年長病人，醫療費用減免機制可避免他們承受沉重的經濟負擔。政府是基於以下的原則加強當時的減免機制：（一）公帑應集中資助弱勢社群，以及那些對病人構成沉重經濟負擔的服務；（二）在評定病人是否符合資格獲減免公共醫療費用時，設定一套客觀而具透明度的準則；同時須考慮經濟和非經濟的因素；（三）經加強後的機制應利便市民使用，而同時維持所需的行政和營運費用在現時的低水平。」
[Note 7] The same, footnotes 1 and 2:
1 From March 2017, holders of a level 0 residential care service voucher under the Residential Care Service Voucher Scheme for the Elderly may be exempted from the charges for public healthcare services. 2 From 15 July 2017, the medical fee waiver arrangement was extended to recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance eligible for exemption from public healthcare service charges. From 1 June 2018 that exemption arrangement applied equally to recipients aged 75 or above of the Higher Old Age Living Allowance. From 1 September 2022, after the merger of the Normal Old Age Living Allowance and the Higher Old Age Living Allowance, the exemption arrangement applied equally to recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 75 or above (including under the Guangdong Scheme and the Fujian Scheme). (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「1 於 2017 年 3 月起，長者院舍照顧服務券（院舍券）計劃級別 0 院舍券持有人可獲豁免公營醫療服務的收費。 2 於 2017 年 7 月 15 日起，醫療費用減免安排擴展至符合可獲豁免公營醫療服務收費資格的長者生活津貼受惠人。有關豁免安排於 2018 年 6 月 1 日起，同樣適用於 75 歲或以上的「高額長者生活津貼」受惠人。由2022年9月1日起，在「普通長者生活津貼」及「高額長者生活津貼」合併後，有關豁免安排同樣適用於75歲或以上的「長者生活津貼」受惠人（包括廣東計劃及福建計劃）。」
[Note 8] The same:
Medical social workers / social workers / executive officers assess eligibility on a family basis. In defining "family", the first step is to establish whether the patient is a dependant, that is, unmarried and (i) under 18; or (ii) aged 18 to 25 and in full-time education. A patient who does not meet the above will be classified as a non-dependant (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「醫務社工／社工／行政主任會以家庭為基礎作出資格評估。在定義「家庭」時，第一步會先釐定病人是否為受供養人，即為未婚，以及(i)未滿18歲；或(ii)18至25歲正接受全日制教育的人士。不符合上述規定的病人會劃分為非受供養人」
[Note 9] The same:
Where the basic living needs of other family members living with the patient are supported by the patient's family (for example, where that family member is a dependent elderly person, or an adult unable to live independently for lack of income or on a low income, or a person unable to care for themselves because of their own mental or physical condition), the patient or applicant may include those dependent family members living with them in the financial assessment, submitting their income, asset and expenditure information together for assessment. / Where an individual case has special family factors or circumstances requiring exceptional consideration, the medical social worker or social worker may, exercising professional judgment, adjust the family size for that case at their discretion 6. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「若有其他同住的家庭成員的基本生活需要是由病人家庭所供養（例如：該家庭成員是受供養的長者、或是因沒有收入／低收入而經濟上未能獨自生活的成人、或是因本身的精神或身體狀況而不能自我照顧的人士等），病人／申請人可將這些同住及屬受供養的家庭成員納入經濟評估內，一併提交他們的入息、資產和支出的資料以作評估。」「如個別個案有特殊的家庭因素或情況而須予例外考慮，醫務社工／社工可按其專業判斷，酌情調整該個案的家庭人數 6 。」
[Note 10] The same, four footnotes:
3 Adoptive parent-child relationships recognised in law, and children born outside marriage who can produce proof of the parent-child relationship, are also covered. 4 That is, unmarried and (i) under 18; or (ii) aged 18 to 25 and in full-time education. 5 Including patients who are separated, divorced, in the course of divorce proceedings or widowed. 6 For example, where a nuclear family member is temporarily away from home and not living with the patient because of study or a working holiday overseas, the medical social worker may consider not including that member in the financial assessment. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「3 在法律上獲承認的領養父母子女關係，或非婚生子女而能出示證明有關父母子女關係的成員也涵蓋在內。 4 即為未婚，以及(i)未滿18歲；或(ii)18至25歲正接受全日制教育的人士。 5 包括分居、離婚、正進行離婚法律程序或喪偶的病人。 6 例如有核心家庭成員因升學／工作假期而身處海外要暫時離家而與病人不同住，醫務社工可考慮不將此成員納入經濟評估。」
[Note 11] The same:
A patient who meets both of the following financial criteria may apply for a medical fee waiver under the strengthened mechanism (where the financial factors are not met, other non-financial factors may also be provided for the medical social worker's or social worker's consideration): (i) for a one-person family, monthly family income does not exceed 150% of the "median monthly domestic household income" (excluding foreign domestic helpers) applicable to that family size; for a family of two or more, monthly family income does not exceed the "median monthly domestic household income" applicable to that family size; and (ii) the patient's family asset value is below the asset limit set for that family size for eligibility to register on the public housing waiting list. The first self-owned or purchased property in which the patient and their family members live together is not counted in that asset value. Moreover, since most elderly people no longer earn any income and have to live on their own savings, the asset limit for a family with an elderly member is higher than for a family without one. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人只要同時符合下列兩項經濟準則，便可根據加強後的機制申請醫療費用減免（如未符合經濟因素，也可以提供其他非經濟因素供醫務社工／社工考慮）：(一) 一人家庭的每月家庭入息不超過適用於其家庭人數的「家庭住戶每月入息中位數」（不包括外籍家庭傭工）的150%；二人或以上家庭的每月家庭入息不超過適用於其家庭人數的「家庭住戶每月入息中位數」，以及 (二) 病人的家庭資產值低於適用於其家庭人數的合資格登記公屋輪候冊所設定的資產限額。至於病人及其家庭成員共同自住的第一間自置或租置物業則不計算入這項資產值內。此外，由於大部分長者已不再賺取任何收入，而且需倚賴個人積蓄生活，有長者成員的家庭資產限額將較沒有長者成員的家庭為高。」
[Note 12] Hospital Authority, Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version):
Asset limit: relaxed to the asset limit for public housing applications (while retaining the existing arrangement by which the asset limit may be raised by $168,000 for each elderly person). (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「資產限額 放寬至申請公屋資產限額（同時保留現時資產限額可因應每名長者而獲提升$168,000的安排。）」
[Note 13] The waiver page:
Where the patient's family income is below 75% of the median monthly domestic household income applicable to their family size, and they meet the asset limit requirement, they may be considered for a full waiver of medical service charges. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「如病人的家庭入息低於適用於其家庭人數的家庭住戶每月入息中位數的75%，並符合資產限額資格，則可獲考慮全數減免醫療服務收費。」
[Note 14] The same:
A charge waiver approved by a medical social worker / social worker / executive officer after assessment will be either valid once only or valid for a period. The medical social worker / social worker / executive officer may, having regard to the patient's actual needs and circumstances, decide the length of that period at their discretion, with a maximum validity of eighteen months. To assist chronically ill patients who have to attend specialist outpatient follow-up frequently, medical social workers / social workers / executive officers will also approve specialist outpatient charge waivers in advance according to the circumstances of the individual patient. Further, for the greater convenience of patients already granted a medical fee waiver, the waiver certificate issued by the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer applies not only at the public hospital or clinic where the patient was admitted, attended or was issued the certificate, but also at public healthcare institutions under the HA and the Department of Health providing the same services, including inpatient services, outpatient services and community nursing services. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「醫務社工／社工／行政主任經評估後批准的收費減免會分為只限生效一次，或在某段期間內有效。醫務社工／社工／行政主任可視乎病人的實際需要和情況，酌情決定這段有效期的長度，而最長有效期為十八個月。為方便需經常到專科門診覆診的長期病患者，醫務社工／社工／行政主任也會因應個別病人的情況，預先審批專科門診費用減免。此外，為了更方便已獲醫療費用減免的病人，醫務社工／社工／行政主任所簽發的減免證明書不單適用於病人入住、求診或獲發減免證明書的公立醫院／診所，同時亦適用於屬醫管局及衛生署提供同一服務的公營醫療機構，包括住院服務、門診服務及社康服務等。」
[Note 15] The same:
Besides assessing the financial situation from the patient's monthly family income and asset value, the medical social worker / social worker will at the same time consider the following non-financial factors: (i) the patient's clinical condition (defined by the frequency with which the patient uses the various public healthcare services and the severity of the condition); (ii) whether the patient is a person with a disability, a single parent supporting children, or otherwise a member of a disadvantaged group; (iii) whether waiving the charge would enable and help the patient to resolve family problems; (iv) whether the patient has to meet any special expenditure making it difficult to pay public medical charges; or (v) other reasonable social factors. / In considering the above non-financial factors, the medical social worker / social worker will ensure that elderly people or chronically ill patients who use public healthcare services frequently can also obtain a medical fee waiver where needed. The categories of non-financial factor cannot be exhaustively listed, and where necessary the medical social worker / social worker will, according to the individual circumstances, deal at their discretion with patients who do not meet the financial factors but face particular hardship. The criteria and guidelines for waiving medical service charges will be reviewed regularly to ensure that patients in need receive appropriate medical care. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「除根據病人每月家庭收入和資產值評估經濟情況外，醫務社工／社工會同時考慮下列各項非經濟因素：(一) 病人的臨床情況（根據病人使用各項公營醫護服務的頻密程度和病情嚴重性來界定）；(二) 病人是否殘疾人士、須供養子女的單親家長，或其他弱勢社群人士；(三) 減免收費能否促使和幫助病人解決家庭問題；(四) 病人是否需付任何特別開支，令其難以支付公共醫療費用；或 (五) 其他合理的社會因素。」「醫務社工／社工考慮上述非經濟因素時會確保經常使用公共醫療服務的長者或長期病患者，如有需要也可得到醫療費用減免。各類非經濟因素不能盡列，如有需要，醫務社工／社工將按個別情況酌情處理未符合經濟因素但有特殊困難的病人。減免醫療服務收費的準則及指引將會定期檢討，以確保有需要的病人得到適當的醫療照顧。」
[Note 16] The same:
A patient who cannot afford medical service charges for financial reasons may apply for a waiver at the medical social services department of any public hospital or clinic, at an SWD Integrated Family Service Centre*, at a Family and Child Protective Services Unit or at another designated service unit. Medical social workers and social workers of SWD Integrated Family Service Centres*, Family and Child Protective Services Units or other designated service units (referred to as "medical social workers / social workers"), or executive officers, will handle the application and will assess eligibility on a family basis, taking into account the financial, social and medical circumstances arising from the patient's illness. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人如因經濟困難未能負擔醫療服務收費，可向各公立醫院和診所的醫務社會服務部、社署綜合家庭服務中心*、保護家庭及兒童服務課或其他指定服務單位申請減免繳費。醫務社會工作者及社署綜合家庭服務中心*、保護家庭及兒童服務課或其他指定服務單位社工（下稱「醫務社工／社工」）或行政主任會處理有關申請，並會以家庭為基礎作出資格評估，考慮因素包括申請人患病所引致的經濟、社會和醫療情況。」
The "contact" section:
The medical social services departments of public hospitals and clinics / SWD Integrated Family Service Centres* / SWD Family and Child Protective Services Units or other designated service units (applicable to cases already being followed up by a social worker of that unit or other designated service unit) (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「公立醫院和診所的醫務社會服務部／社署綜合家庭服務中心*／社署保護家庭及兒童服務課 或其他指定服務單位（適用於正由服務課或其他指定服務單位的社工跟進之個案）」
[Note 17] The same, the last line of the whole page:
*Integrated Family Service Centres operated by subvented non-governmental organisations do not provide the service of applying for a medical fee waiver (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「*受資助非政府機構營辦的綜合家庭服務中心 不提供 醫療費用減免申請的服務」
[Note 18] The same:
A patient who because of financial hardship is unable to pay a medical charge and needs to apply for a medical fee waiver may, during office hours, take the originals and copies of the following documents to the medical social services department of a public hospital or clinic, to the SWD Integrated Family Service Centre* for the district in which they live, to a Family and Child Protective Services Unit or to another designated service unit, and submit the completed application form so that the assessment can be made. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人若因經濟困難，未能繳付醫療款項而需要申請醫療費用減免，可於辦公時間內，帶同下列文件正本及副本，前往公立醫院／診所的醫務社會服務部、所住地區的社署綜合家庭服務中心*、保護家庭及兒童服務課或其他指定服務單位，並遞交已填妥的 申請表格 以便進行有關的評估。」
[Note 19] The same:
Other persons may also submit the application on the patient's behalf, including a parent or guardian applying for a patient under eighteen, a person duly authorised by the patient (who must submit a completed authorisation form for applying for a medical fee waiver), a person appointed as the patient's guardian under the Mental Health Ordinance, or any person acting as agent to apply on behalf of a patient who is incapable of, or unable to, apply themselves. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「其他人士亦可代病人提交申請，包括家長／監護人代十八歲以下之病人辦理申請，獲病人正式授權人士（需遞交已填妥的 申請醫療費用減免授權書 ），或根據《精神健康條例》獲委任為病人監護人的人士，或任何以代理人身分替無能力或自己無法辦理申請的病人代辦申請的人士。」
[Note 20] The same:
Where an applicant authorised by the patient to apply for a medical fee waiver is unable at the time of application to produce the original identity document of the patient or of a family member living with them who is included in the financial assessment, the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer may consider accepting a copy of the identity document for the application, except in particular situations in the course of the medical fee waiver application where the original of the patient's identity document must be used to verify identity with other departments. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「假如獲病人授權代辦醫療費用減免申請的申請人，未能於申請時出示病人／同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員的身份證明文件正本，醫務社工／社工／行政主任可考慮接受身份證明文件副本作申請之用，惟個別於申請醫療費用減免過程中必須以病人身份證明文件正本與其他部門作核實身份的情況除外。」
[Note 21] Hospital Authority, application form for waiving of medical charges (self-dated Ver. 1/2026, effective 1 January 2026), under "Note:" on the cover:
- Before signing, please submit accurate supporting information and read the application guidelines and this form carefully, especially the declaration and warranty in Part Four. - Please complete this form clearly in black or dark blue ballpoint pen. Where there is a writing error, please strike it through and sign beside it to confirm; on no account use correction fluid. - When entering an amount ($), figures after the decimal point need not be entered. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「- 在簽署前，請提交準確的証明資料並小心閱讀申請指引及本表格，尤其是第四部份的聲明及保證書。 - 請用黑色或深藍色原子筆清楚填寫此表格。如書寫錯誤，請用筆劃線刪改，並在旁簽名作實，切勿使用塗改液。 - 填寫金額($)時，小數點後數字不用填寫。」
[Note 22] The same, Part 4 half (B):
Each member of the patient's family (if any) signs this declaration affirming that all the information about themselves on this application form (including information in supporting documents) is complete, accurate, timely and true. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人家庭中每名成員 (如有) 謹簽署此聲明書，申明在此申請表上所有關於其本人的資料 (包括證明文件資料)為完整、準確、適時及真確。」
The footnote below the signature fields of both halves, and a further note:
^ The signature must be the same as the specimen signature kept by the bank. / [Note: where the applicant is also a member of the patient's family, they should sign this Part 4 half (B) in the capacity of a family member of the patient as well.] (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「^ 簽名須與銀行保存之簽署式樣相同。」 「[註：如申請人亦為病人家庭成員，則應以病人家庭成員的身分同時簽署此第四部分(乙)部。]」
[Note 23] The waiver page, the five classes of document in full:
(i) Proof of identity of the patient / applicant / family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment — Hong Kong identity card / passport / travel document or other identity document (ii) Proof that the patient and the family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment live together — the public housing tenancy agreement (iii) Proof of income of the patient and of the family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment — employees: at least the past six months of bank passbooks, statements, salary statements or an income certificate issued by the employer, MPF contribution records, tax returns or notices of assessment, or other proof of income (for example bonuses, allowances, commission, part-time income, one-off gratuities, monthly pensions); the self-employed or those running a business: profit and loss accounts, tax returns, income declarations or other proof of income; the unemployed: proof of unemployment (for example a letter of dismissal, an employer's notice to an employee whose employment is about to cease, medical proof, proof of enrolment in a full-time course, proof of seeking work); other income: allowances (for example living expenses given by relatives or friends not living with them, or fees paid on behalf of family members), alimony, rental income (for example from property, land, a parking space, a vehicle, a vessel), annuity or insurance income paid periodically under a reverse mortgage scheme, annuity scheme or insurance scheme (iv) Proof of the assets held or owned by the patient and by the family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment, covering all assets in their names, whether held individually or jointly and whether in Hong Kong or outside Hong Kong — at least the past six months of all frequently used, infrequently used or closed personal and joint bank accounts 7, including passbooks, statements or records of savings, time deposit, save-as-you-earn, foreign currency, investment, stock and securities, cheque and integrated accounts, Hong Kong Jockey Club betting accounts and the like; for the self-employed or those running a business, the business registration certificate, balance sheet, company account statements and other supporting documents; documents for annuity schemes and insurance with an investment or savings element, such as investment-linked insurance plans, life insurance and annuity schemes, for example annual or monthly statements; documentary proof of shares, stocks, warrants, funds, bonds and other investments held; proof of ownership of property (including property mortgaged under a reverse mortgage scheme), land or a parking space, for example a rates demand note, a government rent demand note or a mortgage repayment schedule; the account number of an electronic wallet (for example PayMe / Alipay / WeChat Pay) and screenshots of its past six months of transactions and balances; assets managed for others / assets entrusted to others / other assets (for example cheques not yet transferred) (v) Proof of the major expenditure of the patient and of the family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment — mortgage statements, rent receipts, expenditure records, medical bill records and the like (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「(一) 病人／申請人／同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員的身份證明 — 香港身份證／護照／旅行證件或其他身份證明文件 (二) 病人及同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員的同住證明 — 公屋租約 (三) 病人及同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員的收入證明 — 受僱人士： 最少過去六個月的銀行戶口簿、月結單、薪俸結算書或僱主發出的入息證明、強積金供款紀錄、報稅表或評稅通知書或其他收入的證明文件（例如花紅、津貼、佣金、兼職收入、一次過的酬金、每月退休金）；自僱／業務經營者： 營業損益表、報稅表、收入聲明或其他有關收入的證明文件；無業人士： 無業證明文件（例如解僱信、僱主向即將停止僱用員工發出的通知信、醫療證明、修讀全日制課程證明、正在求職證明等）；其他收入： 補助款（例如非同住親友給予的家用生活費／代家庭成員繳交的費用）、贍養費、租金收入（例如物業土地、車位、車輛、船隻）、安老按揭計劃／年金計劃／保險計劃下定期發放的年金／保險收入等 (四) 病人及同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員持有或擁有的資產證明，包括所有屬於他們名下，不論個人名義或聯名及在香港或香港以外地方的資產 — 最少過去六個月的所有常用、不常用或已結束的個人及聯名銀行戶口 7 ，包括儲蓄、定期存款、零存整付、外幣存款、投資、股票及證劵戶口、支票戶口、綜合戶口、香港賽馬會投注戶口等的銀行戶口簿／月結單／紀錄等；自僱／業務經營者的商業登記證／資產負債表／公司帳戶結單等證明文件；年金計劃／含有投資或儲蓄成份保險，例如投資連繫的保險計劃，人壽保險及年金計劃的證明文件，例如年結／月結通知書；擁有的股份、股票、認股證、基金、債劵及其他投資項目的文件證明；物業（包括安老按揭計劃下已抵押的物業）／土地／車位擁有權證明，例如差餉單、繳納地稅通知書、按揭還款表等；電子錢包（例如PayMe／支付寶／微信支付）戶口號碼、其過去六個月的交易及結餘紀錄截圖；代他人管理的資產／託付他人管理的資產／其他資產（例如未過戶支票） (五) 病人及同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員的主要支出證明 — 按揭月結單、租金收據、支出紀錄、醫療單據紀錄等」
Footnote 7:
Generally, the balance of a joint account will be divided equally by the number of holders, unless documents are produced showing how the sum is allocated. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「一般而言，聯名戶口的結餘將按存戶人數平均計算，除非出示文件證明金額分配情況。」
[Note 24] The same:
The medical social worker / social worker / executive officer will assess eligibility for a medical fee waiver on the basis of at least the past six months of financial information for the patient and for the family members living with them who are included in the financial assessment. The medical social worker / social worker / executive officer may, depending on the circumstances of the individual application, require other documents and/or more than 6 months of financial information, may enquire into the purpose of particular withdrawals or deposits and the details of income and expenditure records, and/or may where necessary contact the patient, the patient's family or other persons for clarification, further supporting documents or explanation and verification of information, so as to calculate and assess the patient's family's financial situation. / Where the patient or applicant provides information that is not timely when the application is made, or where information already submitted needs updating, the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer may require the patient or applicant to submit all timely information afresh. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「醫務社工／社工／行政主任會以病人及同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員最少過去六個月的經濟狀況資料，作為醫療費用減免資格的評估。醫務社工／社工／行政主任可視乎個別申請的情況而要求提供其他文件，及／或多於六個月的經濟狀況資料，並查詢個別提款／存款的用途和收支紀錄等的詳情，及／或在有需要時，聯絡病人、病人的家人或有關人士澄清、要求提供進一步證明文件／解釋和核實資料，從而計算及評估病人家庭的經濟狀況。」「如在辦理申請時，病人／申請人提供不適時的證明資料，或已遞交的資料需要更新，醫務社工／社工／行政主任可要求病人／申請人重新提交所有適時的資料。」
[Note 25] The same:
Where the patient has a family member living with them who is included in the financial assessment and who holds a valid medical fee waiver certificate, the applicant need not undergo a full financial assessment. The HA will refer to the financial information that family member submitted when applying for a medical fee waiver and, according to the actual circumstances, will require from the patient only necessary or missing information, without assessing each item from the beginning, and the patient will obtain a waiver at the same level as that family member up to the valid date of that approved medical fee waiver. However, after the application is approved, if the patient's family's financial or family circumstances change, or the review mechanism or another reason requires a fresh assessment, this simplified application arrangement may terminate immediately without further notice. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「如病人有同住而被納入經濟評估的家庭成員持有有效的醫療費用減免證明書，申請人無需再進行全面經濟評估，醫管局會參考其家庭成員申請醫療費用減免時所提交的財務資料，並按實際情況只要求病人提供必要或有所欠缺的資料，而無須逐一從頭評估而獲得與該家庭成員同等的減免至該醫療費用減免獲批的有效日期。然而在申請批核後，如病人家庭的財政或家庭狀況有變、覆核機制或其他原因需要進行重新評估，此簡化申請安排可能即時終止而不作另行通知。」
And:
Recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 74 or below may submit proof of receiving the Old Age Living Allowance to be exempted from submitting the following documents for the means test: (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「74歲或以下的長者生活津貼受助人可提交領取長者生活津貼的證明，以豁免提交以下文件作經濟審查之用：」
[Note 26] Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet (self-dated 28 November 2025), under the heading for existing holders of medical fee waiver certificates:
Patients currently holding a medical fee waiver certificate (whether a full or a partial waiver) may continue to receive the waiver without reapplying, until the validity of the certificate ends. / Where a patient was issued a "partial" medical fee waiver certificate on financial grounds and meets the relaxed criteria for a full waiver, the patient may, within the three months before a booked appointment or after an inpatient stay, go to the dedicated team and, after declaring that their financial situation has not changed significantly, receive a full waiver under the new criteria without a further assessment, valid until the expiry date of the original medical waiver certificate. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「現時已持有醫療費用減免證明書（不論全額或部分減免）的病人，可繼續獲得減免，毋須重新申請，直至證明書的有效期完結為止。」「如病人因經濟因素獲發「部分」醫療費用減免證明書，並符合放寬後全額減免的資格，病人可於預約就診前或住院後的三個月內，前往專隊，聲明財務狀況無顯著變化後，便可根據新準則獲得全額減免，毋須再次進行評估，而有效期至原有醫療減免證書到期日。」
[Note 27] Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025:
Where a patient currently holds a partial medical fee waiver certificate and meets the relaxed criteria for a full waiver, the patient may from next year, within the three months before a booked appointment or within the three months after an inpatient stay, go to the medical social services department and, after declaring that their financial situation has not changed significantly, receive a full waiver under the new criteria without a further assessment, valid until the expiry date of the original medical fee waiver certificate. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「若病人現時持有部分醫療費用減免證明書，並符合放寬後全額減免的資格，病人可於明年起在預約就診前三個月內或住院後的三個月內，前往醫務社會服務部，聲明財務狀況無顯著變化後，便可根據新準則獲得全額減免，毋須再次進行評估，而有效期至原有醫療費用減免證明書到期日。」
Page 6 of the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet also carries:
The medical fee waiver certificates patients currently hold (whether full or partial waivers) remain valid after the enhancement of the medical fee waiver mechanism on 1 January 2026, until the validity of the waiver ends. The HA will make a one-off transitional arrangement, and patients need not undergo a further assessment. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人現時持有的醫療費用減免證明書（不論全額或部分減免）在2026年1月1日醫療費用減免機制優化後仍然有效，直至減免有效期完結為止。醫管局會作出一次性過渡性安排，病人無需再次進行評估。」
[Note 28] The waiver page:
Since processing an application takes time, the patient or applicant must submit the completed application form and all the information and documents required for the application to the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer as soon as possible. If the patient or applicant fails to submit the completed application form and all the information and documents required within 30 days of the request by the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer, the application will be cancelled without further notice. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「由於處理申請需時，病人／申請人必須盡快向醫務社工／社工／行政主任遞交已填妥的申請表格及全部申請所需資料／文件。若病人／申請人未能按醫務社工／社工／行政主任要求在30日內遞交已填妥的申請表格及全部申請所需資料／文件，申請將被取消而不作另行通知。」
[Note 29] The same:
Under the Gazette (Notice No. 6792), the following administrative charges are imposed on and payable by patients in respect of outstanding public hospital service charges: (i) 60 days from the date of issue of the bill, a charge of 5% of the outstanding amount, subject to a maximum of 1,000 dollars per bill; and (ii) 90 days from the date of issue of the bill, a charge of 10% of the outstanding amount, subject to a maximum of 10,000 dollars per bill. Further, since processing a medical fee waiver application takes time, a patient or applicant wishing to apply for a medical fee waiver should approach a medical social worker / social worker as early as possible. Unless there are special circumstances or a reasonable explanation, a medical social worker / social worker / executive officer will generally not process a medical fee waiver application more than three months from the date of issue of the bill. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「根據憲報（第6792號公告），就未清繳的公營醫院服務收費向病人徵收及病人須繳付以下行政費用︰(i) 由賬單發出日期起計60天後，徵收欠款額的5%，每張賬單上限為1,000元﹔及(ii) 由賬單發出日期起計90天後，徵收欠款額的10%，每張賬單上限為10,000元。此外，鑑於辦理醫療費用減免申請需時，欲申請醫療費用減免的病人／申請人應盡早向醫務社工／社工提出。除非有特殊情況或合理解釋，醫務社工／社工／行政主任一般不會處理由賬單發出日期起計逾期三個月或以上的醫療費用減免申請。」
[Note 30] The English version of the same page: "An additional administrative charge of a further 10% on the outstanding fees amount shall be imposed if the bills remain outstanding 90 days from issuance of the bills, subject to a maximum charge of $10,000 for each bill."
[Note 31] The waiver page:
Where a patient has previously submitted documents for a means test and been granted a medical fee waiver (a first application), and applies again within eighteen months of that first approval, then if their financial situation has not changed materially so as to affect their eligibility for a medical fee waiver, the patient may continue to be granted a medical fee waiver without submitting documents for a means test, up to a maximum of eighteen months from the first approval. However, after the application is approved, if the patient's family's financial or family circumstances change, or the review mechanism or another reason requires a fresh assessment, this simplified application arrangement may terminate immediately without further notice. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「如病人曾遞交文件接受經濟審查，並已獲批醫療費用減免（首次申請）後，於首次申請獲批後的十八個月內再次申請，如經濟情況沒大轉變致影響其醫療費用減免資格，病人可毋需遞交文件接受經濟審查，繼續獲批醫療費用減免最長至首次申請獲批後的十八個月。然而在申請批核後，如病人家庭的財政或家庭狀況有變、覆核機制或其他原因需要進行重新評估，此簡化申請安排可能即時終止而不作另行通知。」
[Note 32] Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet:
On reapplying for a waiver within at most 18 months, you need only sign a declaration confirming that the family's financial situation has not changed significantly, without resubmitting financial documents for a means test, and may be granted a waiver up to a maximum of 18 months after the first approval (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「於最多18 個月內再次申請減免時，只需簽署聲明書確認家庭財政狀況無顯著變化，無需重新提交經濟文件作經濟審查，可獲減免至最長第一次批核後的18 個月」
Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025:
Where a patient reapplies for a waiver within 18 months, they need only sign a declaration confirming that the family's financial situation is unchanged, without resubmitting financial documents for assessment (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「病人如在18 個月內再次申請減免，只需簽署聲明書確認家庭財政狀況不變，毋須重新提交經濟文件作審查」
[Note 33] Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet, page 6:
On an application for a medical fee waiver, once the patient has submitted all family income and asset information and provided the relevant supporting documents, the medical fee waiver application may be approved as soon as the same day. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「就申請醫療費用減免，病人提交所有家庭收入及資產資料，並提供相關證明文件後，有關申請醫療費用減免最快即日會獲得批核。」
Page 7:
On receipt of complete and accurate supporting documents, the HA will process the application at once, aiming to approve the fee waiver for the patient as quickly as possible. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「醫管局於收到完整及準確的證明文件後，會隨即處理申請，務求盡快向病人批核費用減免。」
[Note 34] Hospital Authority, annual charge cap page for eligible persons:
The assessment process usually takes 14 days. Where an assessment cannot be completed within that period, a progress notification will be issued to the patient or applicant. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「評估過程通常需要14天。無法在此期間內完成的評估會向病人/申請人發出進度通知。」
[Note 35] The waiver page:
Where the patient or applicant disagrees with the outcome of the application, an appeal must be lodged within four weeks of receiving notification of the outcome of the application from the HA or the SWD. Details are available from the office handling the application or from the patient relations officer of the hospital concerned. / Where the patient or applicant disagrees with the outcome of the review, an appeal must be lodged within four weeks of receiving the HA's review outcome or of the date of issue of the review outcome notification (where applicable). Details are available from the patient relations officer of the hospital handling the review. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「如病人／申請人不同意申請的結果，必須在接獲醫管局／社署通知申請的結果起計四星期內提出上訴。詳情可向處理其申請的辦事處或有關醫院的病人聯絡主任查詢。」「如病人／申請人不同意覆核的結果，必須在接獲醫管局覆核結果或覆核結果通知書發出日 （如適用）起計四星期內提出上訴。詳情可向處理其覆核的醫院的病人聯絡主任查詢。」
[Note 36] The same:
When applying for a medical fee waiver, the applicant must provide the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer with complete, accurate, true and timely information for assessment and verification. To ensure that the medical fee assistance system is sound and to prevent abuse, the HA set up a Review Unit (Waiver Applications) in March 2007 (renamed the Medical Fee Waiver Unit in 2008), responsible for: preventing and detecting fraud and abuse of the medical fee waiver, the Samaritan Fund and the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme / taking appropriate action against persons suspected of fraud-related offences / To those ends, the review mechanism established by the HA at head office and in each hospital cluster will: conduct in-depth investigation of cases of suspected fraud in relation to the medical fee waiver, the Samaritan Fund or the Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme / carry out regular random checks on approved cases / review cases at high risk of fraud and abuse / cross-check information with parts of the HA, government departments, banks, employers and others (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「申請醫療費用減免時，申請人必須向醫務社工／社工／行政主任提供完整、準確、真確及適時的資料，以供評估和核對。為了確保醫療費用援助制度健全及防止被濫用，醫管局於2007年3月成立覆核組（減免申請） （2008年改稱醫療費用減免組），負責：預防和偵查醫療費用減免，撒瑪利亞基金及關愛基金醫療援助項目的詐騙和濫用／對干犯與詐騙有關罪行的嫌疑人士採取恰當行動」「為達致上述目標，醫管局於總辦事處及各醫院聯網設立的覆核機制會：就懷疑詐騙醫療費用減免，撒瑪利亞基金或關愛基金醫療援助項目的個案進行深入調查／定期隨機抽查已批核的個案／對有高風險出現詐騙及濫用的個案加以覆核／與醫管局內部、政府部門、銀行、僱主及其他人士作資料核對」
[Note 37] The same:
After submitting an application or providing a declaration, and while a medical fee waiver certificate is valid, if the patient's family's financial or family circumstances change so as to affect eligibility for the medical fee waiver, the patient or applicant must immediately notify the HA and provide all relevant information to the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer for a fresh means test. That information includes but is not limited to: (i) a change in employment (including taking up employment or self-employment, changing or leaving a job); (ii) a change in income (an increase or decrease in actual monthly income, bonuses, double pay, pensions or the like); (iii) a change in the source of finances (for example alimony, financial help from relatives or friends, compensation received monthly or periodically, or an increase or decrease in such sums); (iv) a change in family circumstances (for example an increase or decrease in the number of family members living together, or a change in marital status); (v) a change in assets (for example insurance compensation received, or an increase or decrease in bank accounts or other investments). (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「在遞交申請或提供聲明書後，及在醫療費用減免證明書有效期間，如病人家庭的財政或家庭狀況有變，導致影響其獲得醫療費用減免的資格，則病人／申請人須立刻通知醫管局，並提供所有相關資料予醫務社工／社工／行政主任重新進行經濟審查 ，這些資料包括但不限於：(i) 就業情況的轉變（包括從事受僱或自僱工作、轉職／離職等）(ii) 入息的轉變（實際每月收入／花紅／雙糧／退休金或以上項目款項的增減等）(iii) 經濟來源的轉變（例如：贍養費／親友的金錢援助／按月／定期收到的賠償金或以上項目款項的增減等）(iv) 家庭狀況的轉變（例如：同住家庭成員人數增減、婚姻狀況改變等）(v) 資產的轉變（例如：收到保險賠償金、銀行戶口或其他投資項目款項的增減等）」
[Note 38] The same:
Providing incomplete, inaccurate, untimely or erroneous information (including information in supporting documents) on the application form or a declaration may lead to refusal of the application, or to the partial or complete withdrawal of a medical fee waiver already granted 8, and/or to criminal prosecution. In that event the HA will treat any medical charges waived before the withdrawal as a debt and will pursue it. / 8 This includes the special social, family or financial factors or circumstances that the medical social worker / social worker originally took into account at their discretion on the basis of the patient's family's or applicant's declaration or other information, which may likewise be withdrawn where the patient's family or applicant provided incomplete, inaccurate, untimely or erroneous information. / Obtaining a medical fee waiver by deception is a criminal offence; besides causing the patient to lose eligibility, the patient, applicant or a member of the patient's family may be prosecuted under the Theft Ordinance (Chapter 210 of the Laws of Hong Kong). Any person committing theft is liable on conviction to imprisonment for ten years. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「在申請表或聲明書上提供不完整、不準確、不適時或錯誤的資料（包括證明文件資料），可導致申請被拒，或已獲批之醫療費用減免被部分或全部撤回 8 ，及／或被刑事起訴。在此等情況下，任何於撤回前已減免的醫療費用，醫管局當視為欠款並會作出追討。」「8 當中包括醫務社工／社工當初根據病人家庭／申請人在聲明書上或其他的資料部份而酌情予以考慮的特殊的社會、家庭或經濟因素／情況，亦可能因病人家庭／申請人提供不完整、不準確、不適時或錯誤的資料而被撤回。」「騙取醫療費用減免乃屬刑事罪行，除可導致病人喪失資格外，病人／申請人／病人家庭成員可因觸犯 盜竊罪條例 （香港法例第210章）而被起訴。任何觸犯盜竊罪的人士，一經定罪，可被判 入獄十年 。」
[Note 39] Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund, eligibility page:
Patients receiving assistance from the Fund must be Hospital Authority (HA) patients and must meet the following conditions:: / 2. Status requirement: the patient must hold the status of an "eligible person" as provided in the Hospital Authority Ordinance published in the Gazette. Or the patient must be a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Immigration Ordinance. (Applicable only to particular extremely expensive drugs ^) (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「獲基金資助的病人須為醫院管理局（醫管局）病人並符合下列條件：：」「2. 身份規定 病人必須符合憲報刊登的《醫院管理局條例》訂定的「符合資格人士」身份。 或 病人必須為《入境條例》下香港特別行政區永久性居民。（只適用於特定極度昂貴藥物 ^）」
[Note 40] The same:
- Clinical requirement: Non-drug items — items assessed as necessary by an HA doctor or allied health professional* under the HA's prevailing clinical guidelines. Drug items — under the HA's prevailing clinical guidelines, the treatment plan for the patient must be issued by a designated HA doctor. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「1. 臨床規定 非藥物項目：由 醫管局醫生或專職醫療人員*根據醫管局現行的臨床指引評定為必需之項目。 藥物項目：根據醫管局現行的臨床指引，有關病人的治療計劃必須經由一名指定的醫管局醫生簽發。」
[Note 41] The same, the hash footnote:
For particular extremely expensive drugs, if the patient or applicant, having reviewed the patient's family's disposable financial resources and understood the means-test criteria for the item, is willing to pay the maximum patient co-payment for this application (that is, HK$1 million), they need not submit the required documents to the medical social worker for a means test, but must make the relevant declaration stating their willingness to pay the maximum patient co-payment for this application. Drug subsidy approved by the Fund begins only after the maximum patient co-payment has been paid. Should the relevant means-test criteria change in any way, the HA will review the above arrangement. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「# 就特定極度昂貴藥物，若病人／申請人在審視病人家庭的可動用財務資源後，理解項目經濟審查準則，並願意就是次申請繳付病人最高分擔額（即港幣100萬元），則無需向醫務社工提交所需文件作經濟審查，惟病人／申請人須作出相關聲明表明其願意就是次申請繳付病人最高分擔額。在繳付病人最高分擔額後，才會開始獲得基金批核的藥物資助。如有關的經濟審查準則有任何變更，醫管局將會審視上述安排。」
[Note 42] Annex to the Government press release of 25 March 2025:
Relaxing the definition of "family" to align with the definition under the safety net* for applying for self-financed drugs or medical items / *including the Samaritan Fund (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「放寬「家庭」定義至與申請自費藥物或醫療項目安全網*下定義看齊」 「*包括撒瑪利亞基金」
[Note 43] Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet:
Relaxing the income limit: the income limit for a 1-person household is relaxed to 1.5 times that under the existing mechanism, aligned with the enhancements to the medical fee waiver mechanism (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「放寬收入限額：1 人家庭收入限額放寬至現行機制下的1.5 倍，與醫療費用減免機制優化措施看齊」
[Note 44] The same, under the heading for transitional arrangements for medical fee waivers:
Conditional waivers are to be arranged during January to March 2026 for patients in need / where a patient is unable to afford medical charges because of financial hardship, needs to apply for a medical fee waiver, and is unable to provide sufficient valid documents and information to complete the means test, but needs same-day or urgent treatment. / The patient needs to sign a declaration and state their approximate financial situation, and may then, as a special arrangement, be issued a "conditional waiver" valid for three months. / The patient must, within the validity of the "conditional waiver", submit all documents to the medical social services department (dedicated team) for a financial assessment, and an eligible patient will be issued a formal medical fee waiver certificate. / If the patient is unable to submit the documents within the deadline or does not meet the relevant eligibility criteria, they must then settle all charges payable (if any) (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「在2026 年1 月至3 月期間安排有條件減免安排予有需要的病人／病人如因經濟困難未能負擔醫療費用，需要申請醫療費用減免，且未能提供足夠有效文件及資料以完成經濟審查，但需要即日或緊急接受治療。／病人需簽署聲明書及聲明大概經濟狀況，便可作特別安排獲發有效期為三個月的「有條件減免」。／病人必須在「有條件減免」有效期內向醫務社會服務部（專隊）提交所有文件以進行經濟評估，合資格病人將獲發正式醫療費用減免證明書。／如病人未能於限期內提交文件或未符合相關申請資格，屆時必須清繳所有應繳費用（如有）」
Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025:
To handle the additional fee waiver applications, the HA will adopt a series of special transitional arrangements during the transition period from the start of next year to March, so that patients may be informed of the assessment outcome in good time (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「為了處理新增的費用減免申請，醫管局會於明年一至三月過渡期間採取一系列特別過渡安排，以便病人適時獲知審核結果」
[Note 45] The waiver page:
A means-test calculator is available on the HA's internet medical fee waiver page for the patient or applicant to make a preliminary assessment of whether their family's financial situation meets the criteria for applying for a medical fee waiver, but the result obtained is for reference only; the patient or applicant must formally submit an application and meet the above eligibility criteria, including passing the means test of the medical social worker / social worker / executive officer, before a waiver can be granted. The patient or applicant may also use that means-test calculator to review whether they still qualify for a medical fee waiver when the family's financial situation, or the patient's eligibility for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance, changes. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「醫管局互聯網醫療費用減免網頁備有 經濟審查計算程式 供病人／申請人初步評估其家庭財務狀況是否符合申請醫療費用減免的資格，惟所得之結果僅供參考，病人／申請人必須正式提交申請，並符合上述申請資格，包括通過醫務社工／社工／行政主任之經濟審查，方可獲得減免資助。此外，病人／申請人亦可利用該經濟審查計算程式，在病人家庭的財政狀況／病人領取綜援的資格有變時，檢視自己是否仍符合獲得醫療費用減免的資格。」
[Note 46] Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet:
Extending the coverage of period medical fee waivers for people under 65 to include episodic family medicine clinic services (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「擴闊65 歲以下人士的有限期醫療費用減免涵蓋範圍，以包括偶發性家庭醫學診所服務」
Hospital Authority press release of 31 October 2025:
Extending the coverage of period medical fee waivers to episodic family medicine outpatient services, and extending the maximum waiver validity of 12 months to 18 months (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「擴闊有限期醫療費用減免涵蓋範圍至偶發性家庭醫學門診服務，並延長最長12 個月的減免有效期至18 個月」
Page 3 of the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet:
All holders of period medical fee waivers need not make a separate application for a fee waiver for episodic general outpatient services (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「所有有限期醫療費用減免持有人 無需就偶發性普通科門診服務額外申請費用減免」
Page 2 of the English version of the same information sheet (self-dated 12/2025): "Holders of period waivers which cover episodic FMOP services would not need to apply one-off waiver for each episodic appointment."
[Note 47] Footnote 2 to the annex to the Government press release of 25 March 2025:
At present, where a holder of a period medical fee waiver under 65 needs episodic general outpatient services, he or she has to apply to a (medical) social worker for a one-off medical fee waiver. A person aged 65 or above need not make a separate application for a fee waiver. (our translation from the Chinese original)
Chinese original:
「現時，如65 歲以下的有限期醫療費用減免持有人需要接受偶發性普通科門診服務，他/她需向（醫務）社工申請一次性醫療費用減免。65 歲或以上人士則無需額外申請費用減免。」
What this article does not state
- A "usual" time to approval — no figure is given here, because what the Hospital Authority publishes is a fastest case. What the Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet (self-dated as the April 2025 version) publishes is a conditional fastest case (once documents are complete and accurate, approval "as soon as the same day"), quoted above. Not one of the Hospital Authority waiver documents listed under Sources at the end sets out a figure for "how long it usually takes"; by contrast, the same body's annual charge cap page carries "the assessment process usually takes 14 days". Nor has this article adopted any of the accounts in circulation of "how many weeks approval usually takes".
- Whether the "conditional waiver" still exists — no statement is made. The documents cited here tie it to January to March 2026; and the current mechanism page (footer self-dated May 2026) never mentions the arrangement. Not one of the documents cited here says it has ended, and not one says it has continued. Neither direction is stated.
- Whether online application has gone live — no statement is made. What the Hospital Authority's press release of 31 October 2025 sets out is a target: the HA will also digitise the assessment process step by step, allowing applicants from the end of this year to check application progress and upload documents through the HA Go mobile application, with a target of enabling the application process to be carried out online in the third quarter of next year. The Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet divides the HA Go medical fee assistance one-stop portal into two phases (first phase: uploading documents, push notifications and viewing application details; second phase: self-service applications). Those two documents describe targets and phases, and this article has no document it can cite establishing the actual state of deployment.
- The asset limit for households of six or more is not printed on the Hospital Authority's waiver page — but the figure itself is published, and this article has given it (the Housing Authority's $731,000). What is not stated here is two other things: (i) whether the Hospital Authority will in practice adopt the Housing Authority's row directly for households of six or more; and (ii) how the arrangement adding $168,000 for each person aged 65 or above stacks onto the rows for six or more. Both are to be confirmed with a medical social worker, social worker or executive officer, and this article will not extrapolate them.
- The gradation between a full waiver and a partial waiver is not published on the Hospital Authority's medical fee waiver page for eligible persons. That page has only the single 75% line, and prints no table calculating a waiver percentage by income. This article makes that statement about that page only.
- The scope of the enhancement extending the coverage of period waivers has been explained by footnote 2 to the annex to the Government press release, and this article has set it out (above). What is not stated here is that the current mechanism page does not itself restate that item, so which clinics count in today's operations as "episodic general or family medicine outpatient" services has not been defined clinic by clinic in any document cited here.
- Waivers for persons who are not eligible persons — this article does not describe the criteria. This whole article is about the medical fee waiver for eligible persons. Part Three of the application form (Ver. 1/2026) does carry an item for special circumstances (applicable to applications by persons who are not eligible persons, where the applicant must complete that item and provide the relevant supporting documents), so that route exists; but the criteria that apply to it are in another document, which this article has not cited, so nothing is stated about them.
- The content of the authorisation form for applying for a medical fee waiver — not described here. The waiver page lists that document and requires a person applying on another's behalf to submit a completed version; this article restates only that, and has not cited the terms of the document itself.
- The output of the means-test calculator — none is cited here. The page notes for itself that the result is "for reference only", and every figure in this article is taken from the tables published on the page, not from the calculator's output.
- The 2026 fee schedule, the mechanism of the annual charge cap of ten thousand dollars, and accident and emergency charges and refund arrangements — not repeated here. See this site's article on public hospital charges in 2026. This article cites the annual charge cap page only where the two mechanisms have to be told apart: its own sentence on there being no means test, and the four items in its "eligibility" section — because the requirements of having paid a cumulative ten thousand dollars in eligible medical fees and charges within the year, and of having nothing outstanding, directly decide whether the cap is a route open at all to the reader who cannot pay. The rest of that page (coverage, the annual deadline for applications, reapplying by calendar year, the carrying forward and refund of sums overpaid before approval, and the definition indicated by the asterisk on "must be an eligible person*") is not reproduced here and is all in this site's article on public hospital charges in 2026.
- The Samaritan Fund's list of subsidised drugs and the method of calculating annual disposable financial resources — not repeated here. See this site's article on the public dermatology service and drug subsidies. This article sets out only the structural differences between the two schemes and the parts deliberately aligned.
- The bands and co-payment proportions of the Fund's two progressive calculation tables (table two and table five) — not reproduced here. Both are printed on the Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund's financial assessment page (table two for one-off non-drug items, table five for drugs and non-one-off non-drug items); this article notes only that they exist and which class of application each applies to, and the figures should be read on that page directly.
- The Community Care Fund Medical Assistance Programme — this article mentions only that it exists and that it comes under the same review unit, and does not describe its criteria.
- Which medical social worker or which hospital is more lenient — no comparison is made. Everything in this article is a restatement of the content of official documents themselves.
Disclaimer This article is for general information only and does not constitute medical or financial advice. The thresholds, deadlines and procedures described are restatements of the content of the official documents themselves, and are not a prediction of the outcome of any individual application. Whether a waiver is granted, and whether in full or in part, is decided case by case by a medical social worker, social worker or executive officer. For diagnosis or treatment, consult a qualified Hong Kong-registered doctor.
Disclaimer This article is for general information only and does not constitute medical or financial advice. Consult a qualified Hong Kong-registered doctor for diagnosis or treatment.
This article is health and public service information only. It is not a medical advertisement, and it neither promotes nor recommends the use of any particular institution, therapy or medical service.
Sources
- The mechanism's fundamental principle (no member of the public denied adequate medical treatment through lack of means); the three automatically exempted groups and the implementation dates in their two footnotes; the three principles on which the mechanism was strengthened; the "family" definition table, the definition of dependant and footnotes three to six; the two financial criteria; the income limit table (statistical period the first quarter of 2026, the page's own note that the figures were updated in May 2026 and are adjusted quarterly, with the table's own source given as the General Household Survey of the Census and Statistics Department); the asset limit table (the page's own note that the figures were updated in April 2026 and are adjusted annually, with the table's own source given as the Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department, and 168,000 dollars added for each elderly person); the 75% line and "may be considered for a full waiver"; the five non-financial factors and "the categories of non-financial factor cannot be exhaustively listed"; the maximum validity of eighteen months, validity once only, advance approval of specialist outpatient charge waivers, and the certificate applying at Hospital Authority and Department of Health institutions; the simplified arrangement for reapplying within eighteen months and its proviso; the three places to apply and the asterisk note ("*Integrated Family Service Centres operated by subvented non-governmental organisations do not provide the service of applying for a medical fee waiver"); taking originals and copies during office hours; applying on another's behalf and the arrangement for copies of identity documents; the full table of the five classes of supporting document and footnote seven; "at least the past six months" and the discretion to require more information; untimely information having to be resubmitted; the simplified arrangement where a family member holds a valid waiver certificate; the table of document exemptions for recipients of the Old Age Living Allowance aged 74 or below; the thirty-day document deadline; the 60-day and 90-day administrative charges under Notice No. 6792 and the three-month application deadline; the two four-week appeals and who each goes to; the Review Unit (set up in March 2007, renamed the Medical Fee Waiver Unit in 2008), its responsibilities and the four items of the review mechanism; changes that must be reported, (i) to (v), and "including but not limited to"; the consequences of a false declaration, footnote eight and the Theft Ordinance (Chapter 210); and the passage on the means-test calculator being "for reference only": Hospital Authority, medical fee waiver page for eligible persons, footer self-dated May 2026 (with the note that the median monthly domestic household income by household size, excluding foreign domestic helpers, was updated in May 2026), Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=259365&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (Lang=ENG) (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The "conditional waiver" being confined to January to March 2026 and the consequences of its lapsing; the maximum waiver validity extended from 12 months to 18 months; extending the coverage of period medical fee waivers for people under 65 to include episodic family medicine clinic services; recognising means-test eligibility already confirmed under social welfare and other government-funded schemes; the two phases of the HA Go medical fee assistance one-stop portal; and for the Samaritan Fund's one-off non-drug items, relaxing the income limit with the 1-person household income limit relaxed to 1.5 times that under the existing mechanism, aligned with the enhancements to the medical fee waiver mechanism: Hospital Authority, Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet, Chinese version self-dated 28 November 2025 https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Fee_AM_IF_tc.pdf ; English version self-dated 12/2025 https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Fee_AM_IF_en.pdf (the two language versions carry different self-dates; retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The transitional arrangements being confined to the period ending in March 2026; extending the coverage of period medical fee waivers to episodic family medicine outpatient services and extending the maximum waiver validity of 12 months to 18 months (with no age qualifier); the HA setting up a dedicated team from November to ensure that medical fee waiver applications received by its public hospitals are handled in good time; and digitisation with the target of enabling the application process to be carried out online in the third quarter of next year: Hospital Authority press release on the enhanced application arrangements under the medical fee waiver mechanism, 31 October 2025, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/pad/251031Chi.pdf ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/pad/251031Eng.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The four-part structure of the application form; the cover note ("Before signing, please submit accurate supporting information and read the application guidelines and this form carefully, especially the declaration and warranty in Part Four."); the banner on integrity in applying for a fee waiver and truthful declaration; Part Three's item on special circumstances (applicable to applications by persons who are not eligible persons, where the applicant must complete that item and provide the relevant supporting documents): Hospital Authority, application form for waiving of medical charges, self-dated Ver. 1/2026 and effective 1 January 2026, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Application_Form_for_Waiving_of_Medical_Charges_TC.pdf ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Application_Form_for_Waiving_of_Medical_Charges_Eng.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The annual charge cap being a second layer of safety net "outside the medical fee waiver mechanism" and having no means test; the four items in the "eligibility" section (must be an eligible person*; the patient has paid a cumulative total of ten thousand Hong Kong dollars in "eligible medical fees and charges" within the year; at the time of applying for the "annual charge cap" the patient has no outstanding "eligible medical fees and charges" anywhere in the HA; the hospital services the patient received must not have been determined by the HA as having "no clinical need"); and "the assessment process usually takes 14 days, and where an assessment cannot be completed within that period a progress notification will be issued to the patient or applicant": Hospital Authority, annual charge cap page for eligible persons, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=281820&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML ; English at the same Content_ID (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The Samaritan Fund's "patients receiving assistance from the Fund must be Hospital Authority (HA) patients and must meet the following conditions::"; the clinical requirement; the status requirement; the financial requirement; and the hash footnote's maximum patient co-payment of HK$1 million and "need not submit the required documents to the medical social worker for a means test": Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund, eligibility page, no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/serviceguide_samaritan_link3-b5.htm ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/eligibility_en.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- Table one of income limits for the Samaritan Fund's one-off non-drug items (the table self-dated as updated on 30 May 2026); assets calculated as a multiple of the item's estimated cost, and the progressive calculation tables: Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund, financial assessment page, no revision date of its own, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/sf_fa_b5.htm ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/sf_fa_en.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- "On an application for a medical fee waiver, once the patient has submitted all family income and asset information and provided the relevant supporting documents, the medical fee waiver application may be approved as soon as the same day." (page 6); "The medical fee waiver certificates patients currently hold (whether full or partial waivers) remain valid after the enhancement of the medical fee waiver mechanism on 1 January 2026, until the validity of the waiver ends. The HA will make a one-off transitional arrangement, and patients need not undergo a further assessment." (page 6); "On receipt of complete and accurate supporting documents, the HA will process the application at once, aiming to approve the fee waiver for the patient as quickly as possible." (page 7); "All holders of period medical fee waivers need not make a separate application for a fee waiver for episodic general outpatient services" (page 3); "Asset limit: relaxed to the asset limit for public housing applications (while retaining the existing arrangement by which the asset limit may be raised by $168,000 for each elderly person.)" (page 2): Hospital Authority, Enhanced Medical Protection Measures leaflet, 8 pages, back cover self-dated as the April 2025 version, https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/WaiverpamphletTC.pdf (linked from the medical fee waiver page as the 2025.04 booklet; the document is an image version with no text layer; retrieved 3 August 2026)
- Footnote 2, "At present, where a holder of a period medical fee waiver under 65 needs episodic general outpatient services, he/she has to apply to a (medical) social worker for a one-off medical fee waiver. A person aged 65 or above need not make a separate application for a fee waiver."; and "Relaxing the definition of "family" to align with the definition under the safety net* for applying for self-financed drugs or medical items" with its note "*including the Samaritan Fund": annex to the Government press release on enhanced medical protection measures, 25 March 2025 https://gia.info.gov.hk/general/202503/25/P2025032500555_490026_1_1742903004257.pdf ; the related press release https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/202503/25/P2025032500555.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The two passages under the heading for existing holders of medical fee waiver certificates (old certificates continuing to attract the waiver until validity ends; holders of a partial waiver being able, within the three months before a booked appointment or after an inpatient stay, to go to the dedicated team and declare that their financial situation has not changed significantly and obtain a full waiver, without a further assessment); "On reapplying for a waiver within at most 18 months, you need only sign a declaration confirming that the family's financial situation has not changed significantly"; "since the median monthly income and the public housing net asset limits are updated from time to time, the final assessment result is governed by the criteria in force when the medical fee waiver application is approved"; and the English version's "Holders of period waivers which cover episodic FMOP services would not need to apply one-off waiver for each episodic appointment.": Hospital Authority, Enhanced Medical Fee Assistance Measures information sheet, Chinese version self-dated 28 November 2025 https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Fee_AM_IF_tc.pdf ; English version self-dated 12/2025 https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Fee_AM_IF_en.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- "Where a patient reapplies for a waiver within 18 months, they need only sign a declaration confirming that the family's financial situation is unchanged, without resubmitting financial documents for assessment"; "Where a patient currently holds a partial medical fee waiver certificate … go to the medical social services department and, after declaring that their financial situation has not changed significantly, receive a full waiver under the new criteria"; the two legs of the outpatient exemption at Tung Wah Eastern Hospital, Tung Wah Hospital and Kwong Wah Hospital; and the family medicine specialist outpatient and general outpatient categories listed together under the family medicine outpatient services heading (in the annexed table): Hospital Authority press release, 31 October 2025, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/pad/251031Chi.pdf ; English https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/pad/251031Eng.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- Net asset limits for public housing applications from 1 person to 10 or more ($295,000 / $400,000 / $521,000 / $608,000 / $675,000 / $731,000 / $781,000 / $816,000 / $904,000 / $974,000), under the page's own heading of income and net asset limits with effect from 1 April 2026, and that page's note (ii) on the doubled limit for households in which all members are aged 60 or above: Hong Kong Housing Authority, income and asset limits https://www.housingauthority.gov.hk/tc/flat-application/income-and-asset-limits/index.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The three points under "Note:" on the cover of the application form; Part 4 half (A) "signed by the patient and the applicant" and half (B) "signed by the patient's family members"; "Each member of the patient's family (if any) signs this declaration…"; "^ The signature must be the same as the specimen signature kept by the bank."; "[Note: where the applicant is also a member of the patient's family, they should sign this Part 4 half (B) in the capacity of a family member of the patient as well.]": Hospital Authority, application form for waiving of medical charges, self-dated Ver. 1/2026 and effective 1 January 2026, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/cs/Application_Form_for_Waiving_of_Medical_Charges_TC.pdf (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- "An additional administrative charge of a further 10% on the outstanding fees amount shall be imposed if the bills remain outstanding 90 days from issuance of the bills, subject to a maximum charge of $10,000 for each bill.": the English version of the Hospital Authority's medical fee waiver page for eligible persons, at the same Content_ID (Lang=ENG) https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=259365&Lang=ENG&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The two legs of the "status requirement" on the Samaritan Fund's eligibility page (the status of an "eligible person" under the Hospital Authority Ordinance; or a permanent resident of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region under the Immigration Ordinance, applicable only to particular extremely expensive drugs): Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund, eligibility page, Chinese https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/serviceguide_samaritan_link3-b5.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The Samaritan Fund's financial assessment page carrying table two (the progressive calculation table for one-off non-drug items) and table five (the progressive calculation table for drugs and non-one-off non-drug items); table four of disregarded total disposable assets (the table self-dated as updated on 1 April 2026, from 1 person to 10 or more, with its own note that the disregard is set by reference to the asset limit currently used to assess whether an applicant qualifies to register on the public housing waiting list); and the "family" definition table, the definition of dependant, the discretion to adjust family size and the "at least the past six months" basis of calculation shared by the two schemes: Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund, financial assessment page https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/sf_fa_b5.htm (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The means-test calculator (for applications from the first of January 2026): https://ewsecal.ha.org.hk/calculator/index.html?lang=tc (retrieved 3 August 2026)
- The Social Welfare Department's list of Integrated Family Service Centres: https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/family/cat_family/ifs/index.html ; the Social Welfare Department's Family and Child Protective Services Units: https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/family/cat_familyandc/familyandc/index.html (retrieved 3 August 2026)
Further reading
- This site: Public hospital charges in 2026
- This site: Eczema: the public dermatology service belongs to the Department of Health, and how drug subsidies work
- This site: What are the alternatives when the public waiting list is too long?
- Hospital Authority, medical fee waiver for eligible persons: https://www.ha.org.hk/visitor/ha_view_content.asp?Content_ID=259365&Lang=CHIB5&Dimension=100&Ver=HTML
- Hospital Authority Samaritan Fund: https://www.ha.org.hk/haho/ho/sf/sf_fa_b5.htm
- Social Welfare Department Integrated Family Service Centres: https://www.swd.gov.hk/tc/pubsvc/family/cat_family/ifs/index.html