Arrears Incurred by Restructured Hospitals

15 Feb 2008

Question No:  103  

Question

Name of the Person: Dr Fatimah Lateef

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the average total arrears incurred by restructured hospitals annually over the last 2 years; and (b) on average, how much of these does the Ministry have to write-off, and whether they are usually related to financial difficulties, regular attendees with social problems or other causes.

Reply

Reply From MOH

1. The vast majority (more than 96%) of restructured hospital patients settle their bills promptly, within 2 months of discharge.  Over the past two years (2005 and 2006), hospital arrears that exceeded 2 months averaged about $73 million per year.

2. The hospitals provide various forms of financial assistance for patients who have difficulties paying their medical bills, including payment through installments.  Those who are needy are assisted through Medifund.

3. Some arrears become bad debts after many repeated attempts to recover them and have to be written off.  Not all such cases are due to financial difficulty as hospitals have schemes to assist the needy.  Some are foreign workers involved in industrial accidents.  Some are employees of companies, some of which have wound up.  As bad debts are eventually borne by Singaporeans, the hospitals do their best to minimize them.

4. In 2006, the write-offs amounted to $11 million.