PM Lee has announced many new initiatives at the National Rally 2011, addressing many hot button issues such as healthcare cost, immigration, housing and social safety net for Singaporeans.
Ministry of Health followed up with the release of more details on the changes in health policies that will benefit many more Singaporeans, especially those from the lower and middle income groups:
***************************
The Ministry of Health (MOH) will be introducing a series of initiatives to make healthcare more affordable for Singaporeans. This is part of the Ministry’s on-going effort to review and evolve our healthcare system to better serve the needs of Singaporeans. These changes will be implemented by the first quarter of 2012.
The key changes are as follows:
1) MOH will enhance subsidies to make medications more affordable by offering greater financial assistance on selected high-cost drugs to middle – low income patients.
MOH will increase the drug subsidy for selected high-cost standard drugs for eligible patients, required for chronic disease management from the current 50% to 75%. The same eligibility framework as the PCPS will apply i.e. patients with per capita monthly household income of $1,500 or less, economically inactive households, and patients with residential Annual Value of $13,000 or less.
These drug subsidies are applicable to eligible patients seeking care in the Restructured Hospitals, National Centres, as well as at the Polyclinics. They will have to show their healthcare benefits card to qualify for the subsidies.
In addition, MOH will enhance subsidies under the Medication Assistance Fund (MAF). This fund was set up in 2010, to help patients pay for expensive drugs used for specific medical conditions. The MAF currently covers selected expensive medication, including certain cancer drugs.
However, some patients, especially those with less common diseases or complex conditions, may not respond well to the standard drugs. To financially assist these patients, the MAF will be expanded to cover other non-standard drugs if they are assessed to be clinically necessary and appropriate for the treatment of the patients’ conditions. The hospitals will put in place a framework to assess patients’ need for the drug on a case-by-case basis. The level of subsidy provided under MAF will also increase from the current 50% to 75% for needy Singaporeans.
2) Private outpatient primary care will be made more affordable and accessible for middle-low income patients, thus enabling these Singaporeans to better manage their chronic diseases early, remain healthy and active and avoid unnecessary complications.
The qualifying income for the Primary Care Partnership Scheme (PCPS) will be raised from the current $800 to $1,500 per capita monthly household income. At the same time, the age criteria for eligibility will be lowered from the current 65 years old to 40 years old.
There will be two benefit tiers under the expanded scheme. With this change, 710,000 Singaporeans can receive subsidised care at participating PCPS GP clinics to better manage their chronic conditions. Successful PCPS applicants will receive a healthcare benefits card to identify them as PCPS members to the participating clinics. There are currently more than 31,000 PCPS members, and 405 participating GP clinics and 170 participating dental clinics. The new changes will be implemented from early 2012.
3) The annual withdrawal limit for Medisave use for outpatient care will be raised so that patients can tap on more Medisave to pay for their bills.
To help Singaporeans better manage chronic diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, lipid disorder and stroke in the outpatient setting, the Medisave withdrawal limit allowable for such outpatient treatments will be raised from $300 to $400 per Medisave account, per year. The scheme will be renamed Medisave400.
Medisave400 can also be tapped on for preventive mammogram screening and selected vaccinations. About 112,000 chronic disease patients will stand to benefit from the scheme.
4) Medifund will also be expanded to include non-residential Intermediate and Long Term Care (ILTC) services, so that elderly Singaporeans can recover and age gracefully in the community.
The Government will further enhance Medifund to include non-residential ILTC services such as day rehabilitation, home medical and home nursing. With this, needy Singaporeans will be able to opt for non-residential care, thus helping them recover and age in the community in the company of family and friends. This is expected to benefit about 1000 more Singaporeans, a 10% to 20% increase in the number of Medifund recipients in the ILTC sector. These schemes will be introduced from early 2012.
Dear Dr Lam,
This is just a suggestion. It’s great that you are relating the new policies that are directly relevant to improve the lives of Singaporeans. However mere “reporting” of whatever is available in the papers has little impact to the layman, such as myself. I feel a more personal touch (also highlighed in other posts) will be a better way of bringing the message across. Hypothetical examples of the direct impact of such policies can be cited with concrete figures and benefits. i think these are the little gestures that make the difference. Somewhat, i feel there is this little gap between you and me.
As i quote from the extract below,
“Every student will be required to learn how to be a forensic expert in the courtroom. They will learn how to collect evidence, write a report, submit it to a virtual crime lab, and to testify in court. You can be the greatest investigator in the world, but if you can’t explain the evidence in LAYMAN’s terms, the jury will be lost.”
- Lamar Jordan
Dear Dr Lam
It would be great if childrens are allow to visit their local GP and pay the same pricing as polyclinic.
Just to add – Our CPF
Most of us want to be able to withdrawn them at 55, at least I do. As it can be use for my kids education…etc..instead of payig thru my nose with bank loans.
Hope you can help the majority Singaporeans fight for this.
I am happy to see the increase in coverage for chronic care and expansion of long term care capability. This is great on its own as a downstream fix.
The government could do more to fix the problem upstream.
If one does not turn off the tap, one will need more and more buckets to collect the water. Group photos, train rides and media news footages of passer-bys are showing more and more seriously over weight people in the mid-twenties. MOH’s own health surveys are reflecting the trend. If we as a nation do not even create a dent in the obesity rate over the next few years, when these people hit the forties, the trajectory will compell us to sing the same old song of “more chronic disease care and long term care needed” and this time louder and more costly. As a tax payer, I loath to see our precious resources squandered on diseases associated with a lack of personal responsibilities such as smoking and poor eating habit. I would like to see MOH set 1,3,5 year targets on obesity rate by age group and see action plans on achieving that.
Many chronic diseases are of a preventable nature. Smoking is one key self inflicted risk factor for chronic diseases on smokers and one forced upon non-smokers via second and third hand smoke. HPB site states that ” smoking-related diseases cost Singapore over $800 million per year “. If rate of smoking is reduced, there will be corresponding reduction in disease burden. It will be more effective fixing the problem up stream by reducing the number of smokers and new smokers rather than catching the ill effects down stream by investing more in disease management and long term care. Singapore collected close to $1 billion in tobacco tax per year. More resources and efforts should be allocated to smoking control with specific measurable targets set for 1, 3 and 5 years and not keep kicking the can further down the road. I would like to hear more about 5-year target setting and action plan from MOH.
I have posted these comments on MOH Facebook and see no response.
What is your view on the above two areas and could you kindly get more done ?
Many thanks.
Mr. Lim Teck Koon.
~~~~~~
Pin Min’s Reply:
Thank you for your feedback. Indeed, allocating more funds for chronic diseases management and long term care must go in tandem with prevention of diseases and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. We work closely with Health Promotion Board to roll out programmes to help keep the population as healthy as possible. In addition, I have also spoken up in Parliament on obesity and smoking-related diseases. As chairman of GPC (Health) I will continue to work with MOH and HPB to keep Singaporeans healthy and to make healthcare as affordable as possible.
Regards.
Dear Dr Lam,
I’m a resident at Fernvale Coral Spring who has just moved in with my young baby since June.
While I’m enjoying my new family life in Sengkang, one of the matters that has been bothering me is the noise that’s coming from the 24hr koufu coffeeshop at Fernvale Point. It is extremely disturbing when they play loud music or when people chat and screams in the middle of the night. It is especially bad when they play soccer matches in the middle of the night and people cheer every few minutes. As I leave on a high level, the noise is amplified and is waking me and my baby up. Just as I coax her to sleep, the next round of cheering wakes her up again.
While I understand the 24 hr facility is there to improve the welfare of the residents, it may backfire if not managed properly. I’ll like to seek your kind assistance to help manage the Problems with either HDB or the operator either by limiting the hours where such activities are allowed or for the eatery to be air-conditioned/enclosed so that such activities can be restricted to minimize the noise Pollution.
Thank you in advance and I appreciate this online Platform of yours which makes it much easier for us to reach you and for you to reach out to us.
Best regards.
~~~~~~
Pin Min’s Reply:
We will speak with the management of Koufu and advise them to tone down the volume of the TVs. Rgds.
Dear Dr Lam,
Thanks for your prompt response. I’ll just like to point out that the noise that I’m concerned with is that generated by the customers cheering while watching the tv. As it got to a point that it was so unbearable last week, I had to make a police report. Not sure if thats the reason why there was no longer such cheering this weekend. We will continue to monitor the situation and seek ur intervention should there be no improvements. Thank you.
Regards,
Lee
Dear Dr Lam,
There was yet another round of cheering ongoing past 11pm last night as Koufu was telecasting some EPL match. I believe if i had not made a call to the NPP, the cheering would have continued to 1am till the match ends. It’s not a long term solution to get the police to intervene everytime this happens. As such, I seek your assistance to find a permanent solution to this matter (pls take a look at my earlier suggestions). Thank you.
Rgds,
Lee