The implementation of new health protection scheme in Hong Kong in relationship to expensive chemotherapy

Abstract

Background: As in the rest of the world, cancer has been a leading killer in Hong Kong. Though technology has been growing rapidly, expensive cancer treatments have continuously been problematic to patients and their families. There are some known risk factors that make some people have a higher risk for cancer than others, but the reason why some develop cancer and some do not is mostly still unknown. In addition, the expensive cancer treatments can distress patients and their families psychologically during the painful and long chemotherapy process which is a common cancer treatment. While it is important for experts to research on effective cancer treatment, it is also important for the government and health care experts to solve associated financial problems. In response to help patients to ease their financial burden of expensive medical treatment, the Hong Kong government has proposed a new health protection scheme (HPS), “My Health, My Choice.”

Objective: In this paper, a systematic review on different published literatures is conducted to analyze the prospective outcome of HPS and if it can help patients to ease their financial burden.

Results and Discussion: The Health scheme provides a financial aid option for patients who suffer from chemotherapy through monthly premium. However, the implementation of this HPS seems to be difficult both on the patients’ and the providers’ sides. Case study of health care systems in US and Canada is included in this paper to find out what Hong Kong can learn from other countries with completely different payment systems would manage to deal with this problem. Australia which with a universal coverage health care system has also proposed a similar HPS plan aiming to help lower health care cost by increasing individual responsibility on medical expenses. However, it failed by lack of support from the general public. The Australian example would be used to criticize some essential elements that would contribute to the failure of the HPS, and how Hong Kong would use this example to yield a better proposal.

Conclusion: As HPS might not be able to ease the burden on cancer patients in Hong Kong, it is suggested for government to allocate more effective and direct resources on helping cancer patients, especially those who are receiving chemotherapy or improve services through better primary care. However, the final outcome remains unknown, and the final option still depends on the ultimate need from the general public.