Home Care Services that Received ElderCare Fund Disbursements

Ms Carrie Tan asked the Minister for Health (a) of the 0.33% disbursed from the ElderCare Fund in 2020 that was spent on home care services for FY 2018 as reported in the Elderly Care Endowment Scheme 2020/2021 Annual Report, what are the services which this spending is used on; (b) what are the reasons for this low quantum; and (c) whether the Government will consider tapping on the ElderCare Fund to support informal caregivers with a stipend, in view that they do provide home care to infirm elderly.

In 2000, the ElderCare Fund was set up to support the financing of operating subsidies for intermediate and long-term care (ILTC) services through the annual interest income generated from the fund. Hence, since its formation, disbursements from the ElderCare Fund have been, primarily, allocated to finance nursing home subsidies. Where the same nursing home provider also provides other subsidised ILTC services, these are also supported.

We wish to highlight that Table 1 on page 2 of the Elderly Care Endowment Scheme 2020/2021 Annual Report contained an erroneous "FY 2018" label, when it was meant to refer to disbursements made in Financial Year (FY) 2020, as reflected in the table title and preceding paragraph. We have clarified with Ms Carrie Tan that the question is on disbursements from the ElderCare Fund in FY 2020, instead of FY 2018.

In FY 2020, the interest income from the ElderCare Fund was only sufficient to fund about 20% of the total operating subsidies for ILTC services. The home care services supported by the disbursements included home medical, home nursing, home personal care and home therapy services. The remaining 80% of operating subsidies for ILTC services were funded directly from the Government’s Budget.

As the interest income from the ElderCare Fund is currently still insufficient to fully finance the annual operating subsidies for ILTC services, considering it for other uses beyond ILTC subsidies would be premature at this point.

MOH recognises that informal caregivers play an important role in caring for our elderly. MOH has rolled out the Home Caregiving Grant (HCG), which can be used flexibly to defray the formal or informal caregiving costs for eligible individuals with permanent moderate disability. The HCG quantum will be increased from early-2023, from $200 today to $400 per month for the lower-income, and $250 per month for other HCG beneficiaries.

Other support measures include schemes like the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund to defray the cost of assistive devices and home healthcare items. For severely disabled Singaporeans, other schemes, such as CareShield Life, ElderShield and MediSave Care, may also provide monthly cash payouts.