Debate on Annual Budget Statement

Thank you, Sir. Sir, Mr Pritam Singh and several of the Workers' Party Members of Parliament spoke about universal healthcare subsidies for all seniors. I would like to share with the House that today, we already have quite a number of healthcare subsidies that are structural. So, it is not cohort-based. In fact, polyclinic subsidies are universal. Seniors who go to polyclinics get additional subsidies compared to other patients. This is part of the primary care network that Mr Pritam Singh and Assoc Prof Daniel Goh spoke about.

MediShield Life – for all, for life. This is a universal healthcare insurance that protects Singaporeans against large hospital bills, with premium subsidies and additional premium support from Government to help low-income Singaporeans and middle-income Singaporeans pay for their premiums. So, it is not quite accurate for Assoc Prof Goh to describe it as Singaporeans pay for each other, Government saves money. Actually, Government pays quite a bit of the premiums through premium subsidies and additional premium support. This is part of the sharing.

The same principle is applied for CareShield Life. There are premium subsidies, there is also additional premium support, and these are part of the design of the scheme. It is not cohort-based. It is structural.

CHAS, we will be enhancing the coverage of CHAS to benefit even more Singaporeans, especially for chronic care. In 2017, and this is before the enhancement, more than 650,000 Singaporeans benefited from $154 million of CHAS subsidies. And we will enhance the coverage, we will enhance the help that Singaporeans can get, the benefits that Singaporeans can get under CHAS, as part of enhancing primary care and giving Singaporeans greater peace of mind.

In our hospitals, in our Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs), in our nursing homes, there are also structural subsidies. These are means tested because we want to give more help to lower and middle income Singaporeans. When we introduce packages that are cohort-based, like the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP), the Merdeka Generation Package (MGP), these are on top of the structural subsidies that are already provided in the system for all Singaporeans.

Mr Singh claimed that the MGP gives off a pungent odour of an unfair advantage for the electoral prospects of the PAP, I hope I heard him correctly. Now, I wonder why Workers' Party chose to use such an unpleasant description. And to focus on politicising this tribute to our MGs. The Opposition calls for the Government to give more and yet when the Government gives more to help Singaporeans, the Workers' Party criticises the move as an election tactic. You cannot have it both ways. Please make up your mind and decide where you stand.

As previously explained, we are setting aside funds from current Budget surpluses to give our MGs greater peace of mind and encourage them to stay active and stay healthy. It is also to show our heartfelt appreciation to our MGs for their sacrifices and contributions to Singapore during the early years of our nation building. So, let us not diminish the significance of the PGP and the MGP.

It is misleading to link these packages to election cycles. We have explained this point before in the House, but let me say it again, because Mr Pritam Singh brought it up. The way we derive the surpluses is that you have to earn these surpluses during the term of Government. And then you set them aside, the surpluses that you have accumulated, to fund the PGP and the MGP. You cannot do this at the start of the term because you do not know at that point how much surpluses you are going to have and how much surpluses you can set aside to fund these packages. These have been explained before. It is part of the design of our system for financial prudence and sustainability.

To look after our current generation as well as future generations, we must plan for the long term. And this is what a responsible Government needs to do, to ensure that our policies and programmes are financially sustainable for the current and future generations. What is the size of the bill, where are the funds coming from, how do we achieve maximum value for money, these are important questions.

What we can provide for future cohorts of Singaporeans and how much resources we have to invest in our people and to continue to rejuvenate our communities, our infrastructure, these will depend on whether Singapore continues to have constructive politics, good Government, strong economy and a cohesive society. Sir, I support the Budget. [Applause]