Support available for patients at public healthcare institutions where the issuance of billing invoices has been significantly delayed

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3274

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 7 JANUARY 2025

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Yip Hon Weng

MP for Yio Chu Kang

Question No. 6925

To ask the Minister for Health what support is available for patients at public healthcare institutions where the issuance of billing invoices has been significantly delayed through no fault of the patient and where the delay has led to the patient facing difficulty with making insurance claims for medical bills due to the bill being past the insurer's billing deadline.

Answer

1 In general, insurers do not reject claims if the delayed submission was of no fault of the patient. However, MOH is aware of a few cases where billing delays at the National Cancer Centre Singapore (NCCS) have resulted in patients facing difficulty in making insurance claims.

2 NCCS has provided affected policyholders with letters to their insurers to explain the delay in claim submission. More resources are being deployed to NCCS to clear the outstanding bills. Policyholders who still face issues with claim submission after sharing NCCS’ letter with their insurers may approach NCCS for more support.