Lower out-of-pocket expenses for patients: MPs
by Tan Weizhen
04:47 AM Oct 19, 2011
SINGAPORE - In a bid to lighten the burden on patients' pockets, several Members of Parliament yesterday called for a review of the current healthcare financing schemes.
Dr Fatimah Lateef (Marine Parade GRC) said there is leeway for the MediSave400 scheme to be pushed to Medisave500 - increasing the annual withdrawal limit from S$400 to S$500.
In her parliamentary speech, the deputy chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health explained: "(This is) in view of the push towards more ambulatory management of chronic diseases, our very rapidly ageing populace, and the increase in the average salaries of Singaporeans."
Dr Fatimah said the move will help to reduce out-of-pocket payments. She called for the use of MediShield to be extended to the treatment of congenital diseases, due to high costs and the need for multiple procedures.
She also suggested more comprehensive medical insurance for the elderly - besides Eldercare and ElderShield - as they are at the stage in life when they need the most coverage, yet find it most difficult to get it.
Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam, from the Workers' Party, proposed expanding the use of MediShield to reduce direct payments by patients.
He called for the strengthening of the current forms of pre-payment and risk-pooling, and provide assistance to groups who cannot afford the premiums, such as housewives and the elderly.
Of the Medifund scheme, Mr Giam said: "Medifund is subject to extremely stringent means-testing and disbursements are not exactly generous".
In 2009, he said, an average of S$1,029 was given to fewer than 24,000 inpatient Medifund applicants - representing just 5 per cent of total hospital admissions that year.
Both Dr Fatimah and Mr Giam also pointed to parents' heavy reliance on their children's Medisave accounts.
In 2005, Mr Giam said, 60 per cent of the elderly withdrew from their children's Medisave accounts to pay for their medical bills. "If these patients' children are also low-income earners - as is often the case - the Government is merely shifting the burden of poverty within the pool of the poor," he said.
Dr Fatimah added: "Consider the scenario where the child Medisave-account holder is 60 years of age, and the elderly parent 85 years of age - this is going to become more and more prominent as we move on and our life span gets longer with an ageing population."
