The Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme ("VHIS") will not only help relieving the pressure on the public healthcare system, according to Dr. Alexander Chiu, Medical Director, Health and Employee Benefits of AXA Hong Kong and Macau, the scheme will also bring about a revolutionary change to the insurance industry, which ultimately offers Hong Kong people with a more applicable and practical medical protection.
Dr. Chiu foresees that VHIS, regulated by the Food and Health Bureau, will set a new benchmark for upcoming insurance products. For instance, coverage extension to psychiatric treatment and prescribed advanced diagnostic imaging tests such as MRI scan is expected to be normalized.
Different from present medical insurances, VHIS guarantees renewal up to the age of 100 regardless of any change in the insured person’s health conditions¹. It also covers medical expenses for unknown pre-existing conditions that are diagnosed after the policy is issued¹ ². Such innovative and revolutionary initiative calls for a re-evaluation on current underwriting process by insurance companies in order to maintain the competitiveness of their products. After all, insurance companies must always stay on par with market trends in order to offer customers with the best protection.
Dr. Chiu also states that VHIS and AXA Hong Kong’s VHIS Perception Survey³ fully reflect a high demand for expanding protection on unknown pre-existing conditions and existing chronic illness from the public. In fact, AXA Hong Kong has already started to expand the scope of protection to the three most common chronic diseases last year⁴. AXA Hong Kong will also continue to explore the possibility of widening the range of coverage in the medical insurance products in response to market needs, so that more customers will be able to benefit from the products.
About "VHIS"
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Remarks
¹Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme Preamble:
https://www.vhis.gov.hk/doc/en/information_centre/e_certified_plan_policy_template.pdf
²Pre-existing conditions will only be covered if the insured person has fully declared all requisite information during application. The company has the right to void/ adjust the premium if we found him/ her has fraud/ misleading information.
³AXA Hong Kong commissioned research firm Edelman Intelligence to conduct an online survey of 1,000 Hong Kong people aged 18 or above.
⁴AXA Hong Kong introduced an innovative insurance initiative “BetterMe by AXA” in May 2018, which includes breakthroughs in underwriting approach for the three most common diseases, i.e. Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, Asthma and Anemia:
https://www.axa.com.hk/en/AXA-Hong-Kong-introduces-new-insurance-initiative-BetterMe-by-AXA
This webpage contains general information only. It does not constitute any offer for a basic plan or supplement. For detailed terms, conditions and exclusions of the relevant basic plan and supplements, please refer to the relevant proposals, product brochures and policy contracts.
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