More and more Hong Kong elderly people who had chosen to retire on the mainland are moving back to town. The advantages of life on the mainland versus Hong Kong, in terms of lower living costs are dwindling fast.

With mainland prices on the rise and life expectancy on the upswing, many Hong Kong transplants find themselves in a crossfire, with their savings unable to keep pace with the cost of living.

The Census and Statistics Department revealed in early 2011, that 115,500 Hong Kong elderly, aged 60 and above resided on the mainland. That represented 8.6 percent of the population in that age group.

The Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (HKFTU), which has three consultation services centers in Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou to assist Hong Kong citizens, said the number could exceed 150,000.

Spacious living areas and cheaper living costs inspired tens of thousands of Hong Kong elderly to head back to the mainland after the handover. The government, in fact, encouraged them to live in the north.

Yeung Yin-bun, 77, expected to live a comfortable twilight life in a 500-square-foot apartment he shares with his wife in Panyu. His savings looked handsome in 2002.

The cost of living has gone up drastically in recent years, due to inflation and appreciation of the yuan. Yeung recalls 2,000 yuan was more than enough to satisfy all his expenditures when he first moved to Guangzhou. Now he has to pay double.

However difficult, Yeung insists on staying on the mainland unless his health deteriorates. “I worked hard and devoted a lot to Hong Kong until I retired so that I could live freely and comfortably. With the money I have, this could only happen on the mainland,” he remarked. But the money is likely to be drained within a decade and they may need to move back in the city.

These elderly basically receive no help from the governments on either side of the border. In 1997, the Social Welfare Department launched the Portable Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme to provide them with the means to retire in Guangdong or Fujian provinces.

But the recipient is required to be receiving it in Hong Kong for a year before being eligible to move back to Guangdong and invoke the portability scheme.

In order to get the old age allowance (OAA), or “fruit money”, applicants must spend no more than 56 days outside Hong Kong in the year prior to their application.

The requirement effectively barred many elderly people residing on the mainland for years, from applying for the allowance.

In a Central Policy Unit report on Hong Kong people retiring to the mainland, it points out, “as compared with CSSA (Comprehensive Social Security Assistance), these elderly people are more eager to receive OAA, which they regard as the government’s recognition of their past contributions to society.”

“I paid tax to the Hong Kong government for more than three decades. See what welfare I’ve got now? None!” grumbles Fung Yuk-lin, 68, who moved to Guangzhou when she received her pension after the SARS epidemic in 2003. She admitted she may need to return to Hong Kong at any moment depending on her health.

Zhou Ming from the HKFTU’s Guangzhou center, who has helped many Hong Kong seniors since 2006, commented that the Hong Kong administration has not done enough for these elderly residing on the mainland as if they were invisible.

He said more Hong Kong seniors, ranging from 65 to 99, suffering from health and financial problems have opted to return to Hong Kong in the last two years. Some had left Hong Kong as far back as 30 years ago.

Many old folks in their 90s moved back to the mainland as early as the 1980s but after 30 years, they’ve become penniless.

Ng Wai-tung, community organizer for the Society for Community Organization, pointed out that of the 100 or so impoverished elderly people the organization has provided with aid, more than 35 percent resided on the mainland and are now returning to Hong Kong.

Faced with accumulated complaints, the government finally proposed the “Guangdong Scheme” in 2011, which enables eligible Hong Kong elderly people who choose to reside in Guangdong, to receive a full-year’s payment of old age allowance, the same amount as their Hong Kong counterparts, without the need to come back to Hong Kong. The scheme is expected to be implemented in 2013. Around 30,000 old folks can benefit from it.

An extra HK$1,000 would help only a little, for the elderly people covering daily expenses but not enough to pay for medical services on the mainland, Zhou Ming stressed.

Medical services is one issue that drives the elderly back to town. Not being entitled to medical insurance on the mainland, chronic patients have to travel to Hong Kong for medical appointments once or twice a month.

Zhou Ming admitted the union had to play tricks sometimes to assist helpless and sick elders who are at their wits end to move back to Hong Kong immediately.

As the elders must live in Hong Kong for a year before they can apply for public housing, many will have no place to live during that time. HKFTU sends them directly to hospitals and let social workers help them arrange accommodations or elderly homes.

HKFTU also looks for private elderly homes in Sheung Shui for the single elderly who are eligible for CSSA. For special cases, the elderly will receive CSSA within two months so that they can return to town as quickly as possible.

In response to increasing demands for medical support on the mainland, Chief Executive Donald Tsang pledged that the city would “continue to strengthen cooperation between hospitals in Hong Kong and the mainland, and negotiate with the mainland measures to streamline the formalities for setting up clinics and hospitals there”.

“We will also explore with Guangdong the cross-boundary patient conveyance arrangements to make it more convenient for Hong Kong patients residing on the mainland to return to Hong Kong for medical treatment,” he stated in the 2011-12 Policy Address.