Debated in Parliament on 4 Sep 2019.
Mr Desmond Choo asked the Minister for Health whether there are any schemes available to ensure affordable step-down care and nursing home facilities for our ageing population and, if not, whether the Ministry will consider schemes to make such facilities accessible and affordable to Singaporeans.
To ensure affordability of intermediate and long term care (ILTC) services, the Government provides multiple layers of support to help Singaporeans. The Government provides means-tested subsidies of up to 80% for ILTC services. More subsidies are directed towards the lower-income, where needs are greater.
We will be introducing several new schemes to further support Singaporeans' long-term care needs. By end 2019, the Home Caregiving Grant will be implemented to help with costs of long-term caregiving in the community. In 2020, we will introduce CareShield Life, a new long-term care insurance scheme that provides monthly cash payouts for those who are severely disabled. We will also implement ElderFund, a discretionary financial assistance scheme for low-income, severely disabled Singaporeans. To complement these, we will allow MediSave cash withdrawals for Singaporeans' long-term care needs.
Finally, Singaporeans who have care needs but are unable to afford it despite all other available support measures can apply for MediFund assistance at subsidised long-term care providers.
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