(Yicai) Aug. 30 -- An enlarging group of Hong Kong residents are settling down in the mainland for their senior years, lured by more affordable services even though social insurance and medical insurance systems are not synced.

Elderly care institutions in southern China's Guangdong province have recorded a modest peak of bookings from Hong Kong residents this year after the government of the special administrative region launched several initiatives to support such moves, Yicai learned.

As of Dec. 31, 2021, around 85,000 Hong Kong residents aged 65 or above were living in Guangdong province all year round, rising by 85 percent over the past 10 years, according to data from the SAR's Labour and Welfare Bureau.

The trend could be bigger if pension and healthcare benefits could be transferred to the mainland. Industry insiders say that the mainland and Hong Kong should open their medical treatment and payment channels to offshore residents so that Hong Kong people would not need to travel back for treatment.

Hong Kong is a 'super-aging society' as in 2021, people aged 65 and above accounted for more than 20 percent of the total population. Male residents of the SAR are expected to live till 85.5 years of age and women till they are 89.6, according to data from the United Nations.

The local market of senior care services is not expanding quick enough as the average waiting time for subsidized nursing homes in the SAR is around two years. Moreover, one bed at these institutions costs at least CNY16,000 (USD2,195) per person per month, much more than in the mainland.

Some companies try to link up the markets. Taikang Community is actively negotiating and exchanging views with relevant government departments in Guangdong and Hong Kong to explore integrating senior living and healthcare policies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Qiu Jianwei, chief executive of the senior care center brand of Taikang Insurance Group, said to Yicai.

Despite the lower cost of living and services, there are certain factors that hold potential offshore pensioners back. Hong Kong people worry about how to reach a doctor in the mainland, how to get their expenses reimbursed, and how to ensure that the given drugs are consistent with the ones available in Hong Kong, according to a study by Shi Cheng, a scholar.

In Hong Kong, residents can enjoy public medical services at a low cost and receive healthcare vouchers amounting to HKD2,000 (USD255) per year. If they move to the mainland, they need to add another medical insurance.

Guangdong province has an estimated number of 18,000 to 38,000 patients sent by Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority, living in the southern province as permanent residents, according to official data from early 2020.

Editor: Emmi Laine