Medisave for Prostate Illnesses

Mr Gan Thiam Poh asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry will consider allowing Medisave to be used for the treatment of prostate illness under the Chronic Disease Management Programme as such illness is getting common among male Singaporeans.

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Medisave was designed primarily to help patients pay for hospitalisation costs. However, we have extended Medisave usage to the outpatient treatment of the more common chronic diseases under the Medisave Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) since 2006 to help lower the out-of-pocket payment by patients. Today, CDMP covers 10 common chronic diseases – diabetes, hypertension and lipid disorders, stroke, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, schizophrenia and major depression, dementia and bi-polar disorder.

We had extended Medisave use to these 10 conditions based on the following considerations:

First, a significant number of Singaporeans are affected by these conditions;

Second, the cumulative cost of treatment over long periods for these chronic conditions may pose a severe financial burden for the patients and their families. Some may forgo treatment until serious complications arise which may then require costly hospitalisations;

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Third, there are established structured disease management protocols, processes and indicators to track and achieve better patient outcomes for these 10 diseases.

For serious prostate conditions like prostate cancer, treatment may require surgery or hormone therapy, for which Medisave can be used. The milder form of prostate conditions, such as the Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH), can be treated effectively with medication and the commonly used medications are subsidised. Patients who have difficulty paying for their treatment may seek financial assistance at the polyclinics or restructured hospitals.

My Ministry regularly reviews whether to include other chronic conditions into CDMP so that treatment for chronic conditions remains affordable for Singaporeans, while at the same time ensuring that we do not deplete Medisave balances prematurely.

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