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Figure 3.3
Out-of-pocket share of current health expenditure, 2000–2018

70%
60%
50%
40%

30%
20%
10%
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

CHN MYS AUS CAN USA
SGP Hong Kong GBR JPN

Sources: FHB, 2021a; The World Bank, 2018

3.1.2 KEY HEALTH FINANCING REFORM CONSULTATIONS
IN HONG KONG

Since as early as 1999, the Government has released a number of research and consultation
papers on Hong Kong’s health financing landscape, which identified key challenges to the
health system and proposed health financing reforms to enhance health system sustainability
(Table 3.2). It is apparent that the financial sustainability of Hong Kong’s
health system has been called into question for over two decades.
Table 3.2 highlights key health financing reform papers published in the past two decades,
in which much of the emphasis has been on financing options and the role of the private
sector. The resulting recommendations centre around financing options involving both
mandatory and voluntary contributions and purchasing private sector services in
public-private partnership (PPP), allocating public resources more strategically, enabling
development of better health insurance products, and increasing private sector transparency.

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