Hospital stays in Hong Kong with the CFE: costs, deposits and direct billing

When a CFE member is admitted to a hospital in Hong Kong, the CFE reimburses 19% of the real cost of the stay, room, doctors, theatre, tests and drugs included, because Hong Kong is in CFE zone 5. It pays nothing directly to any Hong Kong hospital, so you settle the deposit and the bill yourself and claim afterwards. On a private gallbladder operation listed at 95,280 HKD with doctors' fees, that means about 2,064 € back from the CFE and about 8,799 € left for you or a top-up.

Below are the CFE rules that apply to a stay, the day rates and operation prices printed by the Hospital Authority and by private hospitals, the deposits they publish, what happens in an emergency and how to claim. The wider picture, including outpatient care, is in our Hong Kong healthcare guide.

How much does the CFE reimburse for a hospital stay in Hong Kong?

For care given since 1 January 2026, a stay in medicine, surgery or intensive care, day surgery included, is reimbursed at 19% of what the hospital bills. Treatments around a stay carry their own zone 5 rates:

A long-term condition (ALD) recognised by French Social Security raises some outpatient rates, but the CFE states that stays abroad are paid the same way with or without it. The CFE also pays only when your rights are open: no waiting period running and contributions paid before the care. Births follow fixed amounts instead of the 19% rule; see giving birth in Hong Kong with the CFE.

Source: CFE, guarantees 2026 (arrêté of 17 December 2025); CFE membership guide 2026 (pages 15, 35 and 36), read 4 Nov 2026.

What does a hospital day cost in Hong Kong, public or private?

In public hospitals the Hospital Authority (HA) charge depends on whether you are an "eligible person": an HKID holder whose permission to stay has not expired, a resident child under 11 or a person approved by the HA. The general ward day rate includes consultation, tests, nursing, prescribed drugs and meals.

HA private wards add a doctor's fee of 680 to 2,780 HKD per visit and per specialty. Three days in a general ward cost 900 HKD (103 €) with an HKID, of which the CFE pays 19.50 €; without one they cost 22,200 HKD (2,531 €), of which the CFE pays 481 € and leaves you 2,050 €.

Private hospitals price the room by class, and the room is only one line of the bill:

These rates exclude doctors' fees, and most exclude meals and medicines. The room class you pick usually sets the price of other items on the bill too: at Hong Kong Adventist, a 2-day gallbladder package without doctors' fees costs 45,000 HKD with a standard room against 81,600 HKD with a private one.

Source: Hospital Authority, G.N. 6792 (fees from 1 January 2026); room-rate sheets linked in the table; HK Adventist surgical packages; all read 4 Nov 2026. Euros at the ECB rate of 3 Nov 2026 (1 € = 8.7710 HKD); euro, CFE and "left" amounts are our calculations.

What does a whole operation cost, and what does the CFE pay?

A room rate says little about the final bill. The fairer comparison is a package that includes the surgeon and the anaesthetist, or a hospital's statistics on real bills. These are the Hong Kong examples we found published with doctors' fees included:

The CUHK Medical Centre packages apply to Hong Kong residents in a day or 4-bed room, without meals. Gleneagles' packages are for its standard room and include 7 days of discharge medication and complications of the core procedure. In the Gleneagles median bill, doctors' fees were 52,400 HKD, more than half. Whatever the hospital, the CFE leaves about four fifths of the bill, so the top-up's room class and limits decide what you really pay.

Source: package sheets and Gleneagles 2025 bill statistics ("for reference only") linked in the table, read 4 Nov 2026; CFE guarantees 2026; ECB rate of 3 Nov 2026. Euro and "left" amounts are our calculations.

How much deposit does a Hong Kong hospital ask at admission?

Private hospitals take a deposit before or at admission. Most set it by room class and by residence; Gleneagles sets the standard room deposit at 30,000 HKD (3,420 €) or 70% of its fee advisory, whichever is higher.

Whether an HKID makes you a "resident" for a private hospital is the hospital's decision, so ask the admissions office which column applies to you. The CFE does not pay deposits. A private insurer may send the hospital a guarantee of payment instead, if it has an agreement with that hospital.

Source: room-rate and deposit sheets linked above and in the previous section, Gleneagles deposits (1 July 2026), read 4 Nov 2026.

Is there CFE direct billing in Hong Kong hospitals?

No. The CFE's hospital direct billing works through a partner network in 33 countries, and no zone 5 country is among them. With the CFE alone, a stay works like this:

1. pay the deposit, then the final bill, as the hospital requires;

2. before discharge, ask for the detailed paid invoice and have the hospital complete the CFE hospitalisation claim form;

3. file the claim in your personal space on cfe.fr ("Déposer une feuille de soins étrangère ou TOM"), entering amounts and currency exactly as on the invoice, here in HKD, with up to 5 items per claim;

4. receive 19% of the real cost in euros by bank transfer; foreign claims filed online took 4.9 days on average in 2025.

You have 2 years from the first day of the calendar quarter after the care to claim, and must keep the originals for 27 months. The CFE's social-action fund can, case by case, improve a reimbursement in countries where medical prices are above French ones, but only on paid invoices.

Direct billing in Hong Kong therefore comes only from a private insurer that has an agreement with your hospital. Before choosing a CFE top-up, ask which hospitals accept its guarantee of payment, for planned stays and for emergencies, and whether it pays on the real cost or only completes the CFE's share up to a limit. Our guide to choosing between a CFE top-up and first-euro insurance in Hong Kong covers that choice.

Source: CFE list of countries by zone, direct billing column; CFE membership guide 2026 (pages 14, 15, 28, 32, 34 and 35); CFE annual report 2025 (page 17), read 4 Nov 2026.

Do you need CFE approval before a planned stay?

Not for an ordinary operation or medical stay. The CFE's prior approval list for care abroad covers:

• land transport over 150 km and any air transport;

• psychiatric stays;

• aesthetic, reconstructive or bariatric surgery;

• follow-up and rehabilitation stays;

• placement of disabled children and teenagers.

For those, send the request with the prescription to the CFE medical adviser at servicemedical@cfe.fr or by post, well before the date: an incomplete request is rejected and leads to no reimbursement. A private insurer will usually want its own pre-authorisation before a planned stay, with a cost estimate from the hospital; follow its rules too.

Source: CFE, prior approval request for care abroad; CFE membership guide 2026 (page 13), read 4 Nov 2026.

What happens in a medical emergency in Hong Kong?

Public A&E is the default. An HA emergency attendance costs 400 HKD (45.60 €) for an eligible person, with triage categories I and II exempt, and 2,100 HKD (239 €) for a non-eligible person, prescriptions and urgent radiology included. Not every private hospital runs an emergency department: Canossa says it transfers patients who need A&E care to a nearby HA hospital. Hong Kong Adventist, Stubbs Road, charges 1,200 HKD (137 €) for a 24-hour urgent care consultation (sheet of 16 October 2026).

What the CFE pays then is only partly settled. An admission is a hospital stay at 19%, and scans done in A&E are technical acts at 15%. For an emergency visit without admission, the CFE table lists a 28.68 € flat for unscheduled care, but it does not say whether that or the 21 € visit amount applies to an A&E visit abroad, so ask the CFE before relying on a figure. Ambulance transport is reimbursed at 2.44 € per km, and the CFE neither organises nor pays a medical evacuation beyond its transport rates, with prior approval for air transport. If evacuation matters to you, check the assistance cover of your top-up or first-euro contract.

Source: Hospital Authority G.N. 6792; Canossa outpatient service; HK Adventist outpatient fees; CFE guarantees 2026 (pages 1 to 3), read 4 Nov 2026. If you have not joined yet, read joining the CFE from Hong Kong.

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Alea is a Hong Kong-based broker and the official CFE representative for Hong Kong, China and Singapore. We help you join the CFE, then compare top-ups and first-euro formulas from more than 50 insurers on what matters in a Hong Kong hospital: the room class covered, the limits on doctors' fees and direct billing with the hospitals you would use. Start with our CFE page, or talk to an advisor for a free quote with no commitment.