<p>香港的公立医院将从 1 月 1 日起提高一系列收费，而面临更高账单但不符合新收费减免标准的低收入患者则呼吁政府提供更多帮助。\n 从周四开始，患者的总体费用将增加，但安全网也将扩大，以支持最需要帮助的人群，推出每年 10,000 港元的医疗费用上限，并将现有的收费减免计划扩展至额外 110 万人。\n 然而，一些弱势居民却被排除在外，面临高达四倍的医疗费用上涨，而由于收入和资产的广泛定义，包括年金和家庭成员的收入，他们无法获得补贴。\n 这些变化包括住院、门诊就诊、影像扫描和检测等领域的费用上涨。例如，需要住院治疗的患者将根据病床类型，每天收费 200 至 300 港元，而目前的收费为 100 或 120 港元。\n 当局表示，费用改革旨在确保该市医疗系统的 “可持续发展”。\n“有些老年人有资产，但他们没有工作，仍然需要支付租金，” 社区组织协会的社区组织者 Ivan Lin Wai-kiu 在周二表示。\n“政府能否进一步调整不住在公租房而仍在租房的老年人的资产限制，以支持夹心阶层的老年人？”\n 他呼吁当局重新考虑收费减免的标准。\n“社会福利署将年金支付视为收入，但 [保费] 不算作老年生活津贴的资产，以鼓励人们购买年金。医院管理局能否考虑这样的安排？” 他补充道。\n\n\n\n\n 退休人员谢淑女表示，新的收费生效后，她的医疗费用将增加到每年 8,000 港元，四倍于之前的费用。\n 这位 76 岁的退休司机独自生活，申请了收费减免，但因她有一项每月支付 11,000 港元的年金计划而被拒绝，这笔钱大部分用于支付 200 平方英尺的公寓租金。\n“我听从政府的建议购买了年金计划，结果成了他们决定不再照顾我的理由，” 她说。“我们一辈子都在为社会贡献，为什么政府要剥夺我那微薄的福利？”\n 收费减免的收入门槛目前设定为中位数家庭月收入的 75%，但将提高到单人家庭中位数的 150%。资产限制也将提高，以匹配公租房申请者的标准。\n 由于年金被算作谢的收入和资产，她的申请未能通过。\n 谢目前每天服用超过 10 种药物以治疗糖尿病和膝伤。她定期去医院咨询三位专家，并进行物理治疗、水疗和职业治疗。\n“如果我必须支付新的费用，我的储蓄很快就会耗尽，我不知道我还能活多久，” 谢说。“我希望政府能考虑我的情况，免除我的医疗费用……否则我可能需要停止治疗。”\n 一位名叫阿燕的电动轮椅使用者在费用上涨后，每年的医疗支出将增加 36.4%，因为她的慢性疾病需要至少七次住院检查或咨询。\n\n\n 第一步协会，一家支持因工伤导致严重身体残疾人士的非政府组织，表示阿燕的工资和资产均超过收费减免的门槛。\n 这位 30 岁的女性每月收入 20,000 港元，资产为 300,000 港元。她的年度医疗和疾病相关费用将在收费改革后从 101,830 港元上升至 138,890 港元。\n 她的专科门诊费用将从 400 港元增加到 1,250 港元，住院费用将从 390 港元增加到 400 港元。\n 每年，她会去专科诊所进行两次神经外科检查，以及各一次呼吸内科、骨科和心脏病科的检查，此外还有两次需要住院的检查。\n\n 协会的注册社工唐晓妍表示，阿燕的病情正在恶化，这意味着她需要使用特殊的多功能轮椅，例如可以躺下的轮椅。\n“她非常努力地支持自己，以免依赖政府，” 唐说。“如果她的病情恶化，将意味着更多的医生咨询和急诊室的就诊——这将带来更重的经济负担。”\n 该协会在 9 月 5 日至 26 日之间进行了一项调查，收集了 110 份有效反馈，了解价格上涨对轮椅使用者的影响，发现 86.3% 的受访者收入为 9,999 港元或以下，尽管他们有显著的医疗或康复费用。\n 近一半，即 48.2% 的人表示，他们不符合综合社会保障援助（CSSA）计划的资格，因为门槛是按家庭计算的，包括家庭成员的工资和资产。\n 该协会建议为那些未获得 CSSA 的人提供财务援助，以支付如助手和康复用品等费用。CSSA 接受者现在可以根据 “特别补助” 获得此类援助。</p>

<p>香港的公立医院将从 1 月 1 日起提高收费，这将影响那些可能不符合新收费豁免条件的低收入患者。虽然对医疗费用的上限和扩大豁免旨在帮助最需要帮助的人，但许多人仍面临显著的费用增加。例如，住院过夜的费用将从 100 港元上涨至 200-300 港元。像退休人员谢淑女这样的患者，医疗费用可能会增加四倍，她对政府的豁免标准表示担忧，认为其中包括年金收入。倡导团体正在呼吁调整政策，以支持那些被忽视的人群</p>

<p>Hong Kong’s public hospitals will raise a range of charges from January 1, while anxious lower-income patients who face higher bills but do not qualify under new fee waiver thresholds are calling for more government help.\nFrom Thursday, patients will need to pay more in general, but the safety net will also be widened to support the neediest, with an annual HK$10,000 cap on medical fees introduced and the current fee waiver scheme expanded to cover an extra 1.1 million people.\nHowever, some underprivileged residents have fallen through the cracks, facing as much as a fourfold rise in medical bills while being ineligible for subsidies due to a broad definition of income and assets, which includes annuity and family members’ income.\nThe changes include higher fees in areas ranging from hospital stays and outpatient clinic visits to imaging scans and tests. For example, patients requiring overnight hospital treatment will be charged HK$200 to HK$300 per day for a bed, depending on the type, instead of the current HK$100 or HK$120.\nThe authorities said the fees reform was intended to ensure the “sustainable development” of the city’s healthcare system.\n“Some elderly people have assets, but they do not have a job and still need to pay rent,” Ivan Lin Wai-kiu, a community organiser at the Society for Community Organisation, said on Tuesday.\n“Can the government further adjust the asset limit for those not living in public housing and still renting homes, to support the sandwich-class elderly?”\nHe urged authorities to reconsider fee waiver thresholds.\n“The Social Welfare Department counts annuity payouts as income, but [the premium] doesn’t count as an asset for the Old Age Living Allowance to encourage people to buy an annuity. Can the Hospital Authority consider such an arrangement as well?” he added.\n\n\n\n\nRetiree Tse Suk-nui said her medical costs would quadruple to HK$8,000 a year after the new fees took effect.\nThe 76-year-old retired driver, who lives alone, applied for a fee waiver but was rejected because she has an annuity plan that pays her HK$11,000 a month, which is mostly spent on rent for a 200 sq ft flat in a tenement building.\n“I listened to the government and bought an annuity plan, which became the reason they decided to stop taking care of me,” she said. “We’ve spent our whole lives contributing to society, why did the government take away that small benefit from me?”\nThe income threshold for the fee waiver is currently set at 75 per cent of the median monthly household income, but it will be raised to 150 per cent of the median figure for one-person households. The asset limit will also be raised to match that of public rental housing applicants.\nBecause the annuity counted towards Tse’s income and assets, her application failed.\nTse currently takes more than 10 types of drugs for diabetes and a knee injury. She visits hospital regularly for consultations with three specialists as well as for physiotherapy, hydrotherapy and occupational therapy sessions.\n“I will deplete my savings very soon if I am to pay the new fees, and I don’t know how much time I have left,” Tse said. “I hope the government can consider my case and waive my medical costs too … otherwise I might need to stop my therapy.”\nAn electric wheelchair user who gave her name as Ah Yan faces a 36.4 per cent increase in her medical expenses annually after the fee increases, as her chronic illnesses require at least seven hospital check-ups or consultations.\n\n\nThe 1st Step Association, an NGO that supports people with severe physical disabilities resulting from work-related injuries, said Ah Yan’s salary and assets both exceeded the threshold for the fee waiver.\nThe 30-year-old earns HK$20,000 a month and has assets of HK$300,000. Her annual medical and illness-related expenses will rise from HK$101,830 to HK$138,890 after the fee reforms.\nHer fees for specialty outpatient clinic visits will increase from HK$400 to HK$1,250 and for hospitalisation to HK$390 to HK$400.\nEvery year, she makes two visits to specialty clinics for neurosurgery and one each to respiratory medicine, orthopaedics and cardiology, in addition to two check-ups that require hospitalisation.\n\nTang Hiu-yan, a registered social worker at the association, said Ah Yan’s condition had been deteriorating, meaning she had to use special multifunctional wheelchairs, such as those that allowed her to lie down.\n“She has tried very hard to support herself economically so that she does not have to rely on the government,” Tang said. “If her condition worsens, it will mean more consultations with the doctors and more visits to accident and emergency wards – translating into a heavier financial burden.”\nThe association conducted a survey between September 5 and 26, collecting 110 effective responses on the impact of the price increases on wheelchair users, and found that 86.3 per cent of respondents had an income of HK$9,999 or less despite significant medical or rehabilitation expenses.\nNearly half, or 48.2 per cent, said they were not qualified for the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme because the threshold was calculated by household, which included family members’ salaries and assets.\nThe association proposed financial assistance for expenses such as helpers and rehabilitation supplies for those who were not recipients of CSSA. CSSA receivers are now entitled to such assistance under “special grants”.\n</p>
<div class="lb-trans"><p>香港的公立医院将从 1 月 1 日起提高一系列收费，而面临更高账单但不符合新收费减免标准的低收入患者则呼吁政府提供更多帮助。\n 从周四开始，患者的总体费用将增加，但安全网也将扩大，以支持最需要帮助的人群，推出每年 10,000 港元的医疗费用上限，并将现有的收费减免计划扩展至额外 110 万人。\n 然而，一些弱势居民却被排除在外，面临高达四倍的医疗费用上涨，而由于收入和资产的广泛定义，包括年金和家庭成员的收入，他们无法获得补贴。\n 这些变化包括住院、门诊就诊、影像扫描和检测等领域的费用上涨。例如，需要住院治疗的患者将根据病床类型，每天收费 200 至 300 港元，而目前的收费为 100 或 120 港元。\n 当局表示，费用改革旨在确保该市医疗系统的 “可持续发展”。\n“有些老年人有资产，但他们没有工作，仍然需要支付租金，” 社区组织协会的社区组织者 Ivan Lin Wai-kiu 在周二表示。\n“政府能否进一步调整不住在公租房而仍在租房的老年人的资产限制，以支持夹心阶层的老年人？”\n 他呼吁当局重新考虑收费减免的标准。\n“社会福利署将年金支付视为收入，但 [保费] 不算作老年生活津贴的资产，以鼓励人们购买年金。医院管理局能否考虑这样的安排？” 他补充道。\n\n\n\n\n 退休人员谢淑女表示，新的收费生效后，她的医疗费用将增加到每年 8,000 港元，四倍于之前的费用。\n 这位 76 岁的退休司机独自生活，申请了收费减免，但因她有一项每月支付 11,000 港元的年金计划而被拒绝，这笔钱大部分用于支付 200 平方英尺的公寓租金。\n“我听从政府的建议购买了年金计划，结果成了他们决定不再照顾我的理由，” 她说。“我们一辈子都在为社会贡献，为什么政府要剥夺我那微薄的福利？”\n 收费减免的收入门槛目前设定为中位数家庭月收入的 75%，但将提高到单人家庭中位数的 150%。资产限制也将提高，以匹配公租房申请者的标准。\n 由于年金被算作谢的收入和资产，她的申请未能通过。\n 谢目前每天服用超过 10 种药物以治疗糖尿病和膝伤。她定期去医院咨询三位专家，并进行物理治疗、水疗和职业治疗。\n“如果我必须支付新的费用，我的储蓄很快就会耗尽，我不知道我还能活多久，” 谢说。“我希望政府能考虑我的情况，免除我的医疗费用……否则我可能需要停止治疗。”\n 一位名叫阿燕的电动轮椅使用者在费用上涨后，每年的医疗支出将增加 36.4%，因为她的慢性疾病需要至少七次住院检查或咨询。\n\n\n 第一步协会，一家支持因工伤导致严重身体残疾人士的非政府组织，表示阿燕的工资和资产均超过收费减免的门槛。\n 这位 30 岁的女性每月收入 20,000 港元，资产为 300,000 港元。她的年度医疗和疾病相关费用将在收费改革后从 101,830 港元上升至 138,890 港元。\n 她的专科门诊费用将从 400 港元增加到 1,250 港元，住院费用将从 390 港元增加到 400 港元。\n 每年，她会去专科诊所进行两次神经外科检查，以及各一次呼吸内科、骨科和心脏病科的检查，此外还有两次需要住院的检查。\n\n 协会的注册社工唐晓妍表示，阿燕的病情正在恶化，这意味着她需要使用特殊的多功能轮椅，例如可以躺下的轮椅。\n“她非常努力地支持自己，以免依赖政府，” 唐说。“如果她的病情恶化，将意味着更多的医生咨询和急诊室的就诊——这将带来更重的经济负担。”\n 该协会在 9 月 5 日至 26 日之间进行了一项调查，收集了 110 份有效反馈，了解价格上涨对轮椅使用者的影响，发现 86.3% 的受访者收入为 9,999 港元或以下，尽管他们有显著的医疗或康复费用。\n 近一半，即 48.2% 的人表示，他们不符合综合社会保障援助（CSSA）计划的资格，因为门槛是按家庭计算的，包括家庭成员的工资和资产。\n 该协会建议为那些未获得 CSSA 的人提供财务援助，以支付如助手和康复用品等费用。CSSA 接受者现在可以根据 “特别补助” 获得此类援助。</p>
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随着香港医院费用大幅上涨的临近，低收入患者呼吁提供更多帮助