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Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, to a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki on special grant for dental treatment to CSSA recipients in the Legislative Council today (November 11):
Question:
Under the current Comprehensive Social Security Assistance ("CSSA") Scheme, recipients who are old, disabled or medically certified to be in ill health are given a special grant for dental treatment ("dental grant") to cover the actual expenses of the relevant treatment. They are required to approach dental clinics designated by the Social Welfare Department ("SWD") for an estimate of cost and then submit the estimate to the SWD Social Security Field Unit in their own districts to apply for the grant. Some elderly, dentists and frontline social workers have relayed to me that SWD staff did not inform the above recipients that, upon receiving approval of the dental grants, they could choose to turn to registered dentists of non-designated clinics for the same treatment service, thus causing great inconvenience to the recipients. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in each of the past five years, of the number of CSSA recipients who chose non-designated dental clinics for treatment upon receiving approval of dental grants and the amount of grants involved;
(b) whether it will consider enhancing public education or revising internal guidelines, to let the recipients know that they may choose non-designated dental clinics for the same treatment;
(c) whether it will consider working with professional bodies such as the Hong Kong Dental Association Limited to examine ways to improve the existing mechanism, including ensuring the estimates of dental costs to be reasonable and accepting the estimates provided by registered dentists of non-designated clinics, so as to facilitate recipients to seek treatment from registered dentists in their neighbourhood for treatment; and
(d) whether currently it has plans to give dental grants to other types of CSSA recipients such as children?
Reply:
Madam President,
The Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) Scheme provides a safety net to meet the basic needs of those who cannot support themselves financially. It is non-contributory but means-tested. Under the CSSA Scheme, the special grant for dental treatment (dental grant) for eligible recipients aims to cover the actual expenses or the ceiling amount of the dental treatment items (dentures, crowns, bridges, scaling, fillings and root canal treatment) set by the Social Welfare Department (SWD) in consultation with the Department of Health (DH).
My replies to the specific questions are set out below:
(a) SWD does not maintain statistics on the provision of dental treatment services for CSSA recipients by non-designated clinics.
(b) At present, in accordance with internal guidelines of SWD and "A Guide to Comprehensive Social Security Assistance" published for CSSA recipients, both have clearly specified that a CSSA recipient is free to call on a registered dentist of a non-designated clinic for the same service after he/she has received an estimate of cost from a SWD-designated clinic (designated clinic).
In general, should the recipients choose to approach the non-designated clinic for the service, the maximum grant payable by SWD would be the cost of estimate provided by the designated clinic.
SWD staff will brief CSSA recipients on the above arrangements when processing their applications for the dental grant. Moreover, SWD will keep in close contact with the designated clinics to ensure that the staff of these clinics are well aware that a CSSA recipient is free to call on a registered dentist of a non-designated clinic for the same service upon receiving approval of the dental grant from the department.
(c) Designated clinics are all operated by voluntary agencies on a non-profit-making basis. Dental treatment services are provided to CSSA recipients at a reasonable charge. At present, the ceiling amount of the dental grant and the adjustment mechanism are set by SWD in consultation with DH. Survey on dental fees is regularly conducted to ensure that the cost of estimate provided as well as the dental fees charged by the designated dental clinics are maintained at a reasonable level.
(d) Under the CSSA Scheme, CSSA recipients who are old, disabled or medically certified to be in ill health are eligible for dental grant. As for able-bodied CSSA recipients (including able-bodied children), SWD may consider, depending on the merit of individual cases, a discretionary payment of dental grant to cover the expenses. In addition, the Government provides free emergency dental services to the public. The School Dental Care Service administered by DH also provides preventive dental services to, and promote good oral hygiene among, all primary school children in Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:29
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