Policy Address

Healthcare Services

71.         The utilisation rate of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Pilot Scheme has been increasing since the voucher amount was doubled last year.  To ease the elderly's demand for public out-patient services and to enhance their awareness of the importance of primary care, we propose to further double the annual voucher amount to $2,000 within this year, while incorporating the pilot scheme into the regular assistance programme.

72.         As the scheme also applies to dental services, the increased amount will enable the elderly to have access to private dental services.  In addition, we will convert the free outreach primary dental care services for the elderly in residential care homes or day care centres into a regular programme, and expand the scope of services to include fillings, extractions and dentures.  The CCF Task Force is actively considering expanding the scope of an existing elderly dental programme to benefit more elderly people with financial difficulties.

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