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Reply:
(a) and (b)
Medical insurance business is conducted by both general business insurers and long term business insurers. There are no separate reporting requirements for medical insurance business in Hong Kong as there are no specific prudential concerns. Generally, statistics on medical insurance business are reported in aggregate with those on accident insurance business if carried on by general business insurers, or subsumed under those of life insurance business if carried on by long term business insurers because such business is largely transacted in the form of endorsement to a life policy. The Insurance Authority ("IA") does not, therefore, have disaggregated statistics on medical insurance business in Hong Kong.
The Medical Insurance Association ("MIA") collects statistics on medical insurance business from its members. The MIA is a trade association of authorized insurers with 46 members currently. The MIA's statistics on private medical insurance and on group medical insurance are annexed. However, as some insurers who carry on medical insurance business are not members of MIA, and as submission of statistics by members to the MIA is entirely voluntary, the statistics annexed do not cover the total amount of business conducted and payments made in the relevant years. The IA's rough estimate is that these figures should cover about 60% of the total relevant amounts.