Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme: Plans, Coverage & HK$8,000 Tax Deduction

Hong Kong’s Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme is a Health Bureau framework that certifies individual indemnity hospital insurance plans against a common minimum standard. Every certified plan guarantees renewal until the insured person turns 100, follows a shared benefit floor, and qualifies premium payments for a tax deduction of up to HK$8,000 per insured person each year. The scheme launched fully on 1 April 2019 and is meant to make private hospital cover easier to compare and easier to keep for life.

Who Can Buy a Certified Plan

Participating insurers must consider any application from a Hong Kong Identity Card holder aged between 15 days and 80 years.¹ Non-residents can apply too, but insurers decide case by case, and a policy covering someone without an HKID does not qualify for the tax deduction.² Children under 11 who do not yet have an HKID still qualify for the deduction if at least one parent held an HKID when the child was born or adopted.

Every certified plan is an individual contract. There are no group or employer-sponsored versions. Once the insurer issues a policy, it must be offered for renewal until the insured turns 100, regardless of any change in health along the way.¹

Standard Plans and Flexi Plans

Certified products come in two categories. A Standard Plan follows a fixed benefit schedule set by the government, which every certified product must meet.³ Because those benefits are identical from insurer to insurer, Standard Plans can be compared on price alone. A Flexi Plan starts from the same floor and adds higher limits, broader coverage, or supplementary benefits. A Flexi Plan can never offer less than a Standard Plan in any mandatory area.

What a Standard Plan Pays

The core annual limits under a Standard Plan include:³

Room and board: HK$750 per day, up to 180 days
Intensive care: HK$3,500 per day, up to 25 days
Attending doctor visits: HK$750 per day, up to 180 days
Specialist fees: HK$4,300 per year
Miscellaneous charges: HK$14,000 per year
Prescribed diagnostic imaging (CT, MRI, PET): HK$20,000 per year, with 30% coinsurance
Non-surgical cancer treatments: HK$80,000 per year
Psychiatric inpatient treatment: HK$30,000 per year
Pre- and post-treatment outpatient care: HK$580 per visit, capped at HK$3,000 per year

Surgeon’s fees are capped across four tiers running from Minor through Intermediate, Major, and Complex, with the government publishing a Schedule of Surgical Procedures that classifies each operation. Where a procedure is not listed, the insurer assigns the tier using government gazettes or medical association guidelines.

Private hospital ward charges in Hong Kong routinely run above HK$750 a day, so a Standard Plan on its own can leave a real gap on room and board. That gap is the main reason many people choose a Flexi Plan.

What Flexi Plans Add

Flexi Plans raise the dollar caps and often reduce or remove the 30% coinsurance on diagnostic imaging.³ Supplementary benefits vary widely by insurer, but they commonly include outpatient kidney dialysis, medical implants such as pacemakers and artificial joints, companion bed charges, home nursing after discharge, and organ transplant donor expenses. Some plans extend outpatient physiotherapy beyond the standard follow-up visits. Comparing Flexi Plans means reading each insurer’s schedule of benefits closely, because the extras are not standardized.

How Pre-Existing Conditions Are Covered

The scheme handles unknown pre-existing conditions with a phased schedule rather than a permanent exclusion. A condition is “unknown” if neither you nor the insurer were aware of it when the policy started. Coverage builds in over four years:²

Year 1: no coverage
Year 2: 25% of eligible expenses
Year 3: 50% of eligible expenses
Year 4 onward: 100%

This schedule is identical across every certified plan. Known pre-existing conditions are a separate matter and may be subject to exclusions or premium loadings agreed during underwriting.

What Certified Plans Don’t Cover

Every certified plan uses the same list of general exclusions.³ The categories that catch people out most often are:

Cosmetic procedures and vision correction, including LASIK, spectacles, and contact lenses. The exception is cosmetic treatment following an accidental injury within 90 days.
Dental treatment, except emergency care and surgery during hospitalisation arising from an accident.
Maternity and reproductive services: pregnancy, childbirth, abortion, IVF, sterilisation, and treatment for sexual dysfunction.
Preventive care such as general check-ups, routine screening, immunisations, and supplements. Exceptions exist for preventing complications of existing treatment or removing pre-malignant conditions.
Traditional and alternative medicine, including Chinese herbal medicine, acupuncture, bone-setting, massage, and naturopathy.
Durable medical equipment like wheelchairs, hearing aids, and home dialysis machines. Rental during a hospital stay or day procedure is covered.
Congenital conditions manifested or diagnosed before the insured turned eight.
Experimental procedures not approved by the recognised authority where treatment takes place.

Expenses already reimbursed by another insurance policy, an employer scheme, or a government programme are also excluded, as is any disability arising from self-inflicted injury, illegal activity, or drug and alcohol dependence.

What You’ll Pay

Premiums are not set by the government. Each insurer prices its own plans, and premiums are banded by age, rising as you move into higher brackets at renewal. As of April 2026, annual premium ranges for Standard Plans look roughly like this:⁴

Age 0: HK$1,570 – HK$5,554
Age 20: HK$1,268 – HK$4,104
Age 40: HK$1,620 – HK$6,588
Age 60: HK$5,352 – HK$17,973
Age 80: HK$11,445 – HK$41,888

These figures do not include the Insurance Authority levy, smoker surcharges, or loadings for higher health risk. The spread between the cheapest and most expensive insurer widens sharply at older ages. Because Standard Plan benefits are identical, comparing on price is a reasonable starting point. Flexi Plan premiums run higher and vary a lot depending on which supplementary benefits are included.

The HK$8,000 Tax Deduction

The Inland Revenue Ordinance allows a deduction of up to HK$8,000 per insured person per year of assessment for qualifying premiums paid under a certified policy.⁵ You can claim it for your own policy and for policies covering any specified relative: your spouse, children, parents, grandparents, and siblings, along with your spouse’s parents, grandparents, and siblings.⁶

There is no ceiling on the number of relatives you can claim for. Paying premiums for yourself, your spouse, two children, and both parents gets you six insured persons at up to HK$8,000 each, for a potential HK$48,000 deduction in a single year. Only the certified portion of the premium qualifies; if the plan bundles non-VHIS riders, the premium for those extras does not count.

Claiming the Deduction

Report the premiums on your Tax Return for Individuals (BIR60). You don’t attach documents when filing, but you should keep premium receipts and annual statements for six years in case the Inland Revenue Department asks to verify the claim.⁵ A late claim can be made using Form IR831 within six years after the end of the relevant assessment year.

If both spouses pay tax, they must agree on how to split a deduction; without agreement, the department will not entertain the claim. If a policy is cancelled and premiums refunded after you have already claimed, you must notify the Commissioner in writing within three months of the refund. Failing to do so can trigger penalties or additional tax.⁵

Switching From an Existing Hospital Policy

If your insurer participates in the scheme and you already hold an individual hospital policy with them, they must offer you the chance to switch to a certified plan. That migration offer has to be made within 10 years of the full launch on 1 April 2019.²

Migration comes in two forms. Direct renewal converts your existing plan into a certified version at the next renewal date with no fresh underwriting. The alternative is an option to change to a different certified plan, which may involve re-underwriting and new health disclosures.¹ If re-underwriting produces terms you don’t like, or the insurer rejects you, you can stay on your existing non-VHIS plan.

You can also move to a different insurer’s certified product, but the new insurer has the right to underwrite you from scratch. Waiting periods and the pre-existing condition clock reset with a new policy, so keep the old one in force until the new one is active and any waiting period has cleared.¹

Applying and the 21-Day Cooling-Off Period

Applications go through the insurer’s own portal or a registered agent. The government publishes a searchable list of every participating provider on the official scheme website.⁷ Every application requires a full health disclosure covering past surgeries, chronic conditions, current treatments, and medications, along with lifestyle habits and family medical history.

You’ll get one of two responses. A Letter of Acceptance confirms cover on standard terms. A counter-offer means the insurer wants to add medical loadings, whether higher premiums or specific exclusions based on your health profile. You are not obliged to accept.

Once the policy documents arrive, you have a 21-day cooling-off period during which you can cancel for a full refund of premiums paid, provided no benefit has been paid or is pending.⁸ The 21 days start the day after you receive the policy documents or a cooling-off notice, whichever comes first. Let the period lapse and the policy is fully in force, with the document you were sent standing as your contract with the insurer.

1
Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. Frequently Asked Questions for Insurance Companies
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. FAQs
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. Certified Plan Policy Template
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. List of Standard Plans
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GovHK. Tax Deduction for Qualifying Premiums Paid under the Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) Policy
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. Tax Deduction
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. List of VHIS Providers
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Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme. Manulife Shelter VHIS Standard Plan – Terms and Benefits