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Enoch Yiu

Hong Kong’s Insurance Authority aims to increase transparency and the available range of medical insurance products to address rising costs, while also reviewing regulations with an eye towards attracting more international life-insurance buyers.
“We would like to see the insurance companies introduce more medical insurance products that are more accessible and affordable for the general public, with sales practices that are fair to consumers,” said Clement Lau Chung-kin, the authority’s executive director of policy and legislation, in a media briefing last week.
Lau said the authority this year would collect data and conduct a comprehensive, in-depth analysis on the costs and compensation levels of medical insurance policies in the market, paving the way for the public to get more information about the coverage.
Such information would help consumers make better choices for their coverage, said Insurance Authority CEO Clement Cheung Wan-ching.
“Industry-wide comprehensive data would also be useful to help insurance companies introduce more medical insurance products to customers, increasing competition in the industry and hopefully bringing prices down,” Cheung said in the same briefing.
“We also want to make it easier for policyholders to change providers, which would also bring in better benefits and more choice for customers.”
The Insurance Authority’s move came as medical insurance costs have been rising sharply in recent years, Cheung said. Medical costs have risen by about 9 per cent a year, while high-end medical coverage has jumped by almost 30 per cent, he added.
The overall average premium per insured person was expected to reach HK$11,078 this year, nearly 15 per cent higher than in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Hong Kong Employee Health Insurance Index, which was released in January.
The concerns about medical insurance are also related to the city’s ageing population, which is expected to increase demand for medical insurance. Residents older than 65 made up about 22 per cent of Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents in 2023, according to government data, but the proportion was projected to rise to 36 per cent in 2047, heaping pressure on the city’s healthcare system.
The authority also planned to work to attract more international insurance buyers to Hong Kong, its leaders said.

While insurance sales have been increasing in recent years, the proportion sold to mainland visitors has been falling. Life insurance sales rose 55 per cent in the first nine months of last year, but the share attributed to mainland visitors fell below 30 per cent, down from 32.6 per cent in 2023, when the border first reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This reflected an increasing number of local and other international customers buying life policies in Hong Kong,” Cheung said. “We would like to see more customers from Southeast Asia and the Middle East buy policies here to strengthen Hong Kong as an international financial centre.”
To achieve this goal, the authority was reviewing how to define and identify mainland visitors and other overseas visitors, said Marty Lui Yu-kwok, executive director of long-term business at the authority.
Lui said the review, which is expected to conclude this year, may make it easier for some overseas Chinese to buy insurance policies in Hong Kong.
Current regulations require mainland passport holders to come to Hong Kong in person, including overseas Chinese who have migrated to other countries but still hold mainland passports.
The review may change to allow overseas Chinese residents to buy Hong Kong insurance policies from Canada or Australia without coming to the city in person, Lui said.
Lui said the review would also look at how to best safeguard the interests of international buyers.


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Analysis aims to increase transparency at a time when some insurance prices are rising faster than medical costs, Insurance Authority CEO says


Analysis aims to increase transparency at a time when some insurance prices are rising faster than medical costs, Insurance Authority CEO says.


Hong Kong regulator sets ‘comprehensive’ review of medical insurance costs

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Analysis aims to increase transparency at a time when some insurance prices are rising faster than medical costs, Insurance Authority CEO says

Analysis aims to increase transparency at a time when some insurance prices are rising faster than medical costs, Insurance Authority CEO says