Local residents can now use their health e-vouchers at clinics in Hengqin, a new measure which took effect on Wednesday.
Sticking to the same modus operandi as in the past several years, the 2024 round of health e-vouchers worth 600 patacas is valid for two years.
The administration regulation on the new 2024 round of the Macau government’s annual medical subsidy programme was promulgated in the Official Gazette (BO) on Monday. Beneficiaries can use their health e-vouchers until April 30, 2026.
The amount of the annual health vouchers for each recipient was 500 patacas when the programme was launched in 2009. The amount was raised to the current 600 patacas in 2013. The scheme only benefits permanent local residents.
In Macau, the health e-vouchers are only valid for consultations and treatments offered by health professionals in the private sector not subsidised by the local government.
The medical subsidy programme’s 2024 round, which started on Wednesday, extends the use of health vouchers to the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin for the first time.
According to the new 2024 round’s administration regulation, health professionals from Macau eligible to provide health services in Hengqin who have joined Macau’s medical subsidy programme can now also receive the Macau government-issued health e-vouchers when they are providing consultations and treatments in clinics there.
Only clinics in Hengqin established by Macau residents who hold, individually or jointly, shares in the capital are covered by the Macau government’s medical subsidy programme, according to the administration regulation.
In Macau, beneficiaries can use their health e-vouchers either with their physical ID card or their e-ID card displayed on the Macau government’s Macao One Account app.
In Hengqin, however, beneficiaries can only use their health e-vouchers with their e-ID card displayed on the Macao One Account app.
According to the administration regulation published on Monday, the 2023 round of health e-vouchers, which started on May 1, 2023 and valid until April 30, 2025, can now also be used in Hengqin.
As previously, the health e-vouchers are fully or partly transferable to the beneficiaries’ spouse, parents or children provided that they are permanent residents.
When announcing its medical subsidy programme’s new round last week, the government said it expected to spend 441 million patacas on the 2024 round.
