Targeted subsidy approach ensures help reaches those who really needs it

31 Aug 2011, Today

Health subsidy limits came as a disappointment

I am glad the Prime Minister's National Day Rally speech covered many aspects that affect Singaporeans' lives.

However, the details announced on Monday for the health subsidies, particularly the per capita monthly household income cap of S$1,500 for the Primary Care Partnership Scheme, came as a disappointment.

Is this a realistic income ceiling for Singaporeans who are supporting a family and taking care of a housing loan? And what about the sandwich class who do not qualify for Medifund and have to take care of their elderly parents?

David Soh Poh Huat

Reply From MOH

We refer to the letter “Health subsidy limits came as a disappointment” by Mr David Soh (17 August) and would like to thank Mr Soh for sharing his feedback on how we could better address the issue of healthcare affordability.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) regularly reviews and updates our healthcare policies to ensure their relevance and sustainability. Healthcare is a shared responsibility between the government and the individual. In formulating our subsidy policies, we adopt a targeted approach to ensure that help is given to Singaporeans with greater needs, while taking care to ensure basic healthcare remains generally affordable and avoid excessive consumption. Such a philosophy ensures the long-term financial sustainability of our healthcare system. 

In this regard, MOH’s recent initiatives seek to make healthcare more affordable for more Singaporeans. By raising the Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS) income ceiling from $800 to $1,500 per capita monthly household income and lowering the age criterion from 65 to 40, more Singaporeans can now benefit from the PCPS. This is a very significant expansion of the scheme’s coverage. 

In ensuring that the additional subsidies reach those who need them, we have adopted the per capita monthly household income assessment model. This is a fair gauge of a family’s economic means as it takes into account, the number of dependents (e.g. children, retired elderly etc) that income-earners have to support in each family. Nevertheless, MOH will exercise some flexibility when assessing applications from those who may fall just outside the qualifying income bracket but whose unique circumstances may warrant some level of assistance.

In addition to extending the PCPS, we will also be increasing our subsidies to selected high cost drugs and expand the use of Medisave for outpatient treatments.

Bey Mui Leng
Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health