More Medifund Help For Needy Patients

1.    More than $78 million of Medifund aid was given out to help needy patients in FY2010. This is $14 million more than FY2009, and an increase of 22%. $68.2 million of Medifund assistance was disbursed to patients in the acute sector while $10.5 million was disbursed to those in the Intermediate and Long-Term Care (ILTC) sector. Needy elderly patients received $23.2 million of Medifund assistance which was an increase of $4.3 million (22.8%) from FY2009.

2.    Successful applications for Medifund also increased in FY2010. There were a total of 480,869 successful applications in FY2010, an increase of 86,889 (22.1%) over FY2009. Of the successful applications, more than 92% received full assistance, i.e. 100% assistance for the outstanding subsidised bill. On average, Medifund and Medifund Silver assistance given was $1,321 per inpatient episode and $94 per outpatient episode.

3.    Medifund and Medifund Silver form the safety net for Singaporeans who are unable to afford their medical bills despite heavy government subsidies, Medisave and MediShield/ElderShield. In FY2010, the Government further injected $200m into the Fund, bringing the total capital sum to $1.98 billion as at end-FY2010.

4.    Patients who have problems paying their medical bills can approach the Medical Social Workers of restructured hospitals and institutions and Medifund-approved ILTC institutions for assistance. The local Medifund committees at the approved institutions will decide on the appropriate level of assistance for the applications.

5.    More details can be found in the FY2010 Medical Endowment Fund Annual Report.