July 2011 Issue No. 181
Health Care Reform
On 11 July 2011, the Food and Health Bureau released the outcome of the second-stage public consultation on the proposed health care reform. We conducted a media conference that afternoon to make initial response. HKFI representatives attended several TV programmes on the following days to further explain the industry’s position to the public. As a next step forward, we will continue to work closely and proactively with the Government to help ensure that the scheme is practical, efficient, actuarially sound and commercially viable, whilst providing a positive health insurance solution to the people of Hong Kong.
Mr David Alexander, Chairman of the Task Force on Health Care Reform, will represent the HKFI at the special meeting of the Legislative Council’s Panel on Health Services on 8 August 2011 to reaffirm our stance.
Proposed Independence of the Insurance Authority (IIA) Following the Government’s release of the consultation conclusions on 24 June 2011, the Task Force on IIA met to review the latest developments and what we should do next. In addition, the Governing Committee met with Professor the Honourable K C Chan, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, and his team for an exchange of views on the way forward. Among other things, we suggested the establishment of a working group led by the Insurance Authority (IA) to manage the transition from IA to IIA. On this, we are awaiting Government’s response.
Proposed Establishment of a Policyholders’ Protection Fund (PPF)
The Task Force on PPF has forwarded to the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) the consolidated comments from Member Companies. Basically, we fully support the establishment of a PPF and endorse most of the recommendations made by the Government. We nevertheless highlighted some technical points and recommended options for the consideration of the Administration. They include clarification on which insurance classes are to be included in the PPF, exclusion of SMEs as in the case for most jurisdictions overseas which only cover natural persons, elucidation on what is to be covered by PPF, Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Hong Kong and Employee Compensation Insurer Insolvency Bureau, and the investment of PPF to maximize returns, etc.
How to Help Develop Hong Kong into a Maritime Centre – from the Insurance Perspective
The above Task Force has commissioned the Centre for Transport, Trade and Financial Studies of the City University of Hong Kong and the One Country Two Systems Research Institute to conduct a consultancy study on “How to Position Hong Kong as a Maritime Centre for the Asia Pacific Region”. The research exercise will start soon and the finalized report is expected to be completed by the end of this year, which will then be forwarded to the Government for consideration in early 2012.