Review of Medisave Withdrawal Limits With Rise In Healthcare Costs

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3049

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 9 SEPTEMBER 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms Hany Soh

MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

Question No. 6510

To ask the Minister for Health (a) when did the Ministry last reviewed and adjusted MediSave withdrawal limits; and (b) whether the Ministry is considering raising MediSave withdrawal limits to better help Singaporeans cope with rising healthcare costs.

NOTICE PAPER NO. 3049

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON OR AFTER 10 SEPTEMBER 2024

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms Hany Soh

MP for Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC

Question No. 6517

To ask the Minister for Health in each year of the past three years (a) what is the number of appeals received from patients to draw from their MediSave account beyond the annual withdrawal limit; and (b) of these, what are the respective rates of successful appeal.

Answer

1 MediSave is intended to help Singaporeans offset healthcare expenses over their lifetime, especially during significant health episodes requiring surgery and long hospital stay, which tend to happen during old age. It is however understandable that when young, we want to use more of our MediSave balances as we cannot anticipate the need for MediSave when we are old.

2 Hence, The Ministry of Health (MOH) has schemes like MediSave 500/700, Flexi-MediSave and MediSave for diagnostics scan to cover more regular outpatient treatments. The areas of coverage and its limits are regularly reviewed and adjusted. For example, in 2021, we introduced a higher $700 limit to better support patients with complex chronic conditions who needed to seek care more frequently. In 2023, residents enrolled in Healthier SG can use MediSave to cover their copayment under the Chronic Disease Management Programme fully, without having to make any cash contributions.

3 Over the last three years, around 1,500 appeals were received annually from Singaporeans requesting to use their MediSave beyond withdrawal limits, out of roughly 1.4 million Singaporeans who make MediSave withdrawals each year. Around 40% of these were assessed to have genuine affordability concerns and approved.