Living standards | Ho agrees better quality housing should be built

Chief Executive election candidate Ho Iat Seng said at his second public hearing yesterday that he will aim to improve the quality of subsidized housing.

The candidate held two public hearing sessions over the weekend. Yesterday, he took questions from 20 members from the audience.

One middle-aged lady, who identified herself only as Mandy, elaborated extensively on political reform and subsidized housing.

“Almost all residents are sandwich-class buyers now. I have talked with them, and they [have] said they don’t want to become slaves of subsidized housing.” Mandy expressed that both living and eating in Macau is expensive, making life very difficult. She questioned the candidate as to why the prices of subsidized housing could not be lowered.

“Don’t forget this subsidized housing will definitely lead to a loss [to the owner]. As such, why can’t you push down the price to MOP1,500 per square foot? It can ease public anger,” she said. “Or you can reform the harsh social housing mechanism with the income ceiling at MOP8,600.”

Ho said lowering the price to MOP1,500 per square foot was irrational, as it would not even cover the cost of the housing.

He explained that a rational price makes reasonable quality housing, but agrees subsidized housing with better quality should be built. “Some 50-year-old buildings still look very nice, but others are dilapidated. It is related to the quality of construction,” said Ho.

“We want quality housing for our people, so that they can live there for life,” said Ho. “We don’t want to see falling tiles and dripping drains,” he added, in an apparents reference to falling tiles reported at the Seac Pai Van subsidized housing some years ago.

Another member of the audience, who identified himself as Chio, asked Ho about the necessity and possibility of implementing citywide medical insurance.

Chio mentioned that the current healthcare system in Macau covers the elderly, children and teenagers, civil servants, teachers and patients with chronic illness or infectious diseases. However, he did not think this coverage is sufficient.

“For example, my kid used to feel discomfort in the head. Eventually, [my child] was diagnosed with sinusitis. The problem is that it takes a patient half a year to be transferred from general to specialist medicine. As a result, even though there is free healthcare, not many citizens can enjoy it.”

Chio mentioned further that commercial insurance may not cover certain illnesses or does not cover patients’ existing illnesses. The audience member then brought up the fact that medical insurance for all exists in the mainland and Taiwan. He also cited that the annual spending on National Health Insurance in Taiwan accounts for 6.3% of the island’s gross domestic product. In 2017, 85.8% of Taiwan’s citizens felt satisfied with the insurance program.

“You [Mr. Chio] pointed out spending on National Health Insurance in Taiwan accounted for 6.3% of its GDP. In Macau, last year we had a GDP of MOP440 billion and spent MOP8.4 billion on medical care, which is around 2%,” said Ho,  adding that the jurisdictions could not be directly compared. “If we need to reach the 6.3% in Taiwan, it will mean that we need to expand to spending of [between] MOP25 billion to MOP26 billion.”

Ho suggested it would bring a deficit to Macau, which violates the provision in the Basic Law. The Law requires the government to spend within its means. Nonetheless, he said he would study how Taiwan achieved this level of spending and see whether there are lessons that can be applied to Macau.

Ho also explained that even though Macau does not spend as much as Taiwan in percentages, in the MSAR the spending is well-designed to target certain vulnerable groups.

“We focused on citizens above 65 years of age and below 18 years, and we made that spending,” he said. “It isn’t a small amount.” Anthony Lam