Debated in Parliament on 13 May 2013.
Mr Zainal Sapari asked the Minister for Health (a) what is the number of residents aged 60 years and above who cancelled their MediShield policies in the past three years and what are the reasons for the cancellations; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider removing the MediSave withdrawal limit to allow MediShield premiums to be fully paid using MediSave.
From 2010 to 2012, an average of 650 MediShield policyholders aged 60 and above (or less than 1% of policyholders aged 60 and above) opted out of MediShield coverage each year. Policyholders do not indicate their reasons for cancelling their MediShield coverage.
Following the recent MediShield enhancements, the MediSave withdrawal limits for medical insurance premiums were revised from 1 March 2013. The current limits are $800 for policyholders aged 75 years and below, $1,000 for policyholders aged 76 to 80 years and $1,200 for policyholders aged above 80 years. The revised withdrawal limits are sufficient to fully cover basic MediShield premiums of all policyholders.
For elderly Singaporeans, the Government has put in place various measures to help them with the payment of premiums. A one-time MediSave top-up of up to $400 was provided to insured Singaporeans to help with the basic MediShield premium revisions. The Government provides annual MediSave top-ups of up to $450 to the majority of elderly Singaporeans through the GST Voucher Scheme. The Government also provides additional MediSave top-ups to Singaporeans from time to time when there are Budget surpluses, such as the recent one-off MediSave top-up of $200 for all Singaporeans aged 45 and above in Budget 2013.
PAPERCUTS