Debated in Parliament on 24 Feb 2023.
Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health in view of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce’s announcement on 9 February 2023 (a) with subsidies, how much is the average Singaporean expected to pay for COVID-19 treatment; (b) whether general practitioners are free to set their own treatment fees for mild COVID-19 symptoms; and (c) whether the Ministry will make publicly available the subsidised and unsubsidised costs of COVID-19 treatments.
Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether patients who have been diagnosed with long COVID prior to the implementation of the new COVID-19 financing arrangements in April 2023 will continue to be covered under the current provisions; and (b) for patients who require admission into the intensive care unit for severe COVID-19 or need prolonged treatment for long COVID, what additional subsidies, aside from Government subsidies, MediSave, MediShield Life, MediFund, and CareShield Life, will be available.
Mr Yip Hon Weng asked the Minister for Health in view of the Multi-Ministry Task Force’s announcement on 9 February 2023 that COVID-19 treatments will no longer be fully subsidised, what are the measures taken to encourage the public, especially the elderly, to continue seeking timely medical attention.
Mr Deputy Speaker, may I have your permission to answer Question Nos 4 to 6 in today's Order Paper together?
Yes, please do.
We are able to transit to DORSCON Green because of the strong resilience built up through hybrid immunity of vaccinations and safe recovery from COVID-19. This means we are no longer treating COVID-19 as a special category of disease, with special clinical protocols and subsidies.
Hence, like all diseases, doctors will treat COVID-19 patients based on their clinical assessment and severity of illness. This means they will also charge treatment fees similar to other acute respiratory diseases, which is currently about $20 to $35 for subsidised patients at the polyclinics. Patients with lasting symptoms – that is, long COVID-19 – will be cared for and supported in the same way as patients experiencing lingering effects of other respiratory diseases. All patients with infectious diseases, COVID-19 or otherwise, will be encouraged to seek treatment promptly and exercise social responsibility.
It is noteworthy that after three years of the pandemic, the vast majority of COVID-19 patients experience mild symptoms and are not expected to require a hospital admission. For the minority that require an inpatient admission, they will be supported by our S+3M framework, that is, subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave and MediFund.
The Member asked what other assistance are available that is beyond S+3M. The fact is S+3M is already designed to fully cover the bills for patients with financial difficulties. To illustrate, for a patient who is admitted to a C class ward for COVID-19, the median co-payment after subsidies and MediShield Life is about $700, which patients can pay for using their MediSave. For those who are unable to use MediSave and have difficulty with cash payment, there is MediFund to help. The same applies to ICU stay, which is very rare for COVID-19 patients now.
Mr Yip.
Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I declare that I am working in an investment firm and I am involved in a consortium that manages COVID-19 Community Isolation Facilities.
I have two supplementary questions. How does MOH intend to communicate the subsidised and unsubsidised costs of COVID-19 treatment, long COVID treatments as well as the stay in Community Isolation Facilities to our residents? Second, if residents are unable to pay for such treatments, especially for long COVID that may last awhile, what assurances can the Government give that medical care will not be denied?
I thank the Member for the question. I want to reiterate the point that I made earlier which is: as a function of endemicity, we have to go back to status quo. That means that there is no special treatment given for COVID-19 as an illness. We will continue as per normal in providing the services and all these, any changes or any developments, we will continue to provide advisory to the residents and to people at large.
Generally, what we hope to see, is basically people taking care of their own health, their responsibility for that and continue to follow the advisory. For example, we have issued an advisory for the vulnerable group, recently, in February, encouraging them to take the booster and for those who are immunocompromised to do so as well. The issue about the concerns with regards to costs, same thing, we always had a framework of subsidy and support, as I mentioned earlier, S+3M and this will continue. Those who are concerned about that, I think they do not have to be concerned because whenever you have difficulties making payment for your bills, there is always that support that is available and we want to assure that that remains true.
PAPERCUTS