The government expects to spend MOP 405 million on its annual medical subsidy programme – informally known as medical vouchers – this year, Executive Council (ExCo) spokesman Leong Heng Teng said late last week.
Leong announced details of a draft by-law (administrative regulation) regulating the 2017 medical subsidy programme during a press conference at the Government Headquarters on Friday.
Each permanent resident will be entitled to medical vouchers worth MOP 600 this year, unchanged from last year. The beneficiaries will have to use their 2017 vouchers by August 31 next year, according to an ExCo statement on Friday.
Starting on May 1, permanent residents will be able to get their medical vouchers from self-service machines across the city, according to Leong.
Medical vouchers can only be used in local private medical entities that are not funded by the government, according to the statement.
The programme was launched in 2009, when the amount of medical vouchers for each recipient was MOP 500. The amount was raised to MOP 600 in 2013.
(Macau News / The Macau Post Daily)
