Cap On Eyecare Vouchers Unfair, Say Optometrists

The president of the Hong Kong Society of Professional Optometrists, Vincent Ng, said on Saturday that it is unfair for the government to target only eye doctors as it limits how elderly people spend their medical vouchers.

The Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme gives people aged 65 and above HK$2,000 to spend on various medical services each year. They are allowed to accumulate up to HK$5,000 in total.

But the government wants to cap spending on eye care at HK$2,000 every two years, after its data showed a “disproportionate number of claims with exceptionally high amounts made by optometrists".

Ng said the government shouldn’t focus solely on optomestry, and should instead regulate various medical sectors under the voucher scheme.

He added that his own sector was looking at ways to better monitor doctors.

“We are going to discuss how to give some counter proposal or give any possible way to regulate the use of healthcare vouchers in otometrists services,” he said.

Ng said one possibility was separating the cost of glasses from eye examinations.

Health Secretary Sophia Chan stressed the cap is not intended to punish optometrists. She said the priority is ensuring elderly people can afford to meet all their health needs through vouchers.

“If we look at the figures or the health status of our elders in Hong Kong, in fact the burden of chronic disease is very heavy,” she said.

“We would like to provide more education to the elderly so they can better use or more effectively use of their elderly health voucher, in particular for chronic disease prevention as well as chronic disease management.”