Healthcare

Healthcare in Singapore is mainly under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health. Singapore generally has an efficient and widespread system of healthcare. Singapore was ranked 6th in the World Health Organisation's ranking of the world's health systems in the year 2000.

Overview

Singapore has a non-modified universal healthcare system where the government ensures affordability of healthcare within the public health system, largely through a system of compulsory savings, subsidies, and price controls.

Funding

A key principle of Singapore's national health scheme is that no medical service is provided free of charge, regardless of the level of subsidy, even within the public healthcare system. This mechanism is intended to reduce the over-utilisation of healthcare services. Out-of-pocket charges vary considerably for each service and level of subsidy. At the highest level of subsidy, although each out-of-pocket expense is typically small, costs can accumulate and become substantial for patients and families. At the lowest level, the subsidy is in effect nonexistent, and patients are treated like private patients, even within the public system.

Singapore's system uses a combination of compulsory savings from payroll deductions to provide subsidies within a nationalised health insurance plan known as Medisave. Within Medisave, each citizen accumulates funds that are individually tracked, and such funds can be pooled within and across an entire extended family. The vast majority of Singapore citizens have substantial savings in this scheme. One of three levels of subsidy is chosen by the patient at the time of the healthcare episode.

Medishield is a low cost insurance scheme intended for those whose savings are insufficient to meet their medical expenses. Premiums can be paid out of Medisave accounts. A new scheme, Medishield Life, was agreed by parliament in January 2015. Co-insurance payment rates are to be reduced from 10–20% to 3–10% and the lifetime claim limit is to be removed. Eldershield is part of the Central Provident Fund which insures against the cost of private nursing homes and related expenses. It already has more than a million policy holders. Medifund is a safety net for those who are unable to meet their assessed contribution. Risks are not pooled, so an individual may be exposed to catastrophic expenses.