SPEECH BY ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR MUHAMMAD FAISHAL IBRAHIM, PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, AT THE ASSOCIATION OF CHATERTED CERTIFIED ACCOUNTANTS (ACCA) SINGAPORE HEALTH CONFERENCE, AT THE RAFFLES HOTEL, ON 18 FEB 2014

Mr Mark Millar, ACCA Council Member
Ms Belinda Young, ACCA Council Member
Ms Leong Soo Yee, Head, ACCA Singapore
Members of the ACCA Local Executive Committee
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen

Introduction

1. Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to join you today at the Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA) Singapore Health Conference 2014.

Making Care Accessible and Affordable to a Silver Population

2. The theme for this conference, “Preparing the Health Sector for the Silver Tsunami”, is highly appropriate. An ageing population is a key driver of healthcare demand. Many healthcare systems around the world grapple with the need to ensure access to healthcare services in the face of increasing demand, while enhancing the quality, affordability and fiscal sustainability of healthcare delivery all at the same time.

3. Singapore is no exception. By 2030, we expect that one in five residents will be over the age of 65, double from one in 10 today. The demand for healthcare services, and the fiscal expenditures on healthcare are expected to increase correspondingly.

4. Singapore seeks to deal with the challenge in a few ways. First, we will be increasing healthcare capacity. Under the Healthcare 2020 Masterplan, we will be injecting around 1,900 acute beds, 1,800 community hospital beds, 6,600 nursing home beds and up to 10,000 home care places by 2020.

5. Second, we are reviewing our healthcare financing policies to ensure that healthcare remains affordable for our residents as they age. A key policy change is the introduction of Medishield Life. MediShield Life will provide lifelong protection for all Singaporeans against large hospitalisation bills. All Singaporeans, including those who are above 90 years old and those with pre-existing illnesses, will be covered under Medishield Life. We hope that this gives assurance to our seniors that MediShield Life will continue to support them as they age. MediShield Life is also expected to pay a larger portion of big hospital bills than MediShield does now, so patients can look forward to paying less out-of-pocket. The public has shared their concerns on premium affordability, especially for the lower-income and elderly. The Government is committed to ensure that premiums are affordable, including working towards keeping premiums within Medisave contribution levels so that Singaporeans can use their Medisave to cover the premiums.

6. Since July 2012, we have also enhanced government subsidies for intermediate and long term care to cover two-thirds of households and offer subsidies of up to 75% for residential services and 80% for non-residential services for lower income households. The Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund which was set up in April 2011 was enhanced in 2013 into a $50m fund to provide financial support for transport, mobility aids and consumables needed by seniors to age in place, to be close to family members and the community.

7. In particular, for our pioneer generation, the government will provide a suite of healthcare benefits to ensure that they can age well with peace of mind that their healthcare needs will be taken care of. The Pioneer Generation will pay less premiums than today but enjoy the enhanced benefits under MediShield Life, as the Government will subsidise their MediShield Life premiums. They will receive additional subsidies when they seek outpatient treatment at our Specialist Outpatient Clinics, polyclinics and private clinics participating in the Community Health Assist Scheme, or CHAS. They will receive top-ups to their Medisave accounts every year.

Making Healthcare Sustainable

8. However, our strategy to respond to population ageing cannot be only to increase capacity and make care more affordable. We also need to transform and evolve the system of healthcare delivery to be more effective in terms of health outcomes and cost.

9. In particular, with population ageing and the increase in chronic diseases, a hospital-centric healthcare system will not be able to meet the healthcare needs of the population adequately or cost effectively. Hence, MOH is also actively developing the primary care sector and the intermediate and long term care sectors, as well as fostering partnerships across the care settings – between acute care, primary care and long term care – to provide more patient centric care services to our elderly patients, and to ensure that their conditions are well managed in the community.

10. More importantly, health promotion will be a key priority for us. We need to focus on enhancing health, rather than just the treatment of illnesses. We need to go upstream and encourage our citizens, even before they reach old age, to eat healthy, exercise and adopt a healthy lifestyle, so that as a population, we are chronologically older, but yet enjoy longer years in health. If we are successful in health promotion, then the scenario of an ageing population leading to ever increasing healthcare needs and expenditures on hospitalization, need not be inevitable for both individuals as well as society.

Conclusion

11. The conference today provides a valuable opportunity for a sharing of experiences and insights from experts on how we can sustainably meet the healthcare needs in the face of an ageing population. I think Singapore has much to learn from the experiences in other countries. I would like to extend my appreciation to ACCA for providing this platform. I wish you an engaging and fruitful conference.

Thank you.