[h=1]GOVT IS ONLY WILLING TO SPEND 3% OF TOTAL MEDIFUND TO HELP SINGAPOREANS[/h]
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31 Oct 2014 - 10:40am
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[photo crdit: The Straits Times]
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it has given out more Medifund funds to more needy Singaporeans last year.
In a media statement released yesterday, MOH said that, “About $130 million in Medifund assistance was provided to needy patients” in FY2013.”
It said that this is “an increase of 27% from the $102 million a year ago”.
It also said that “The number of Medifund applications approved also increased by about 30%”. This is “from 587,000 in FY2012 to 766,000 in FY2013”.
According to MOH, more Medifund assistance was given out because there were a “wider range of services covered by Medifund” and because of the “Government’s capital injection of $1 billion in FY2013”.
However, when you look at the average assistance that each patient is able to get in FY2013, each person only gets an average of $170 per person.
This is compared to the average of $167 that each person was only able to receive in FY2012.
As such, even though the total funding has increased, the funding for each person who required assistance did not improve by much. However, since medical fees would have increased, it is curious why funding assistance remained at about the same level.
The MOH does not provide in-depth breakdowns, so it is impossible to analyse.
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According to MOH, the average assistance per admission for impatient treatment (i.e. hospitalisation) is $1,579. And the average assistance per application for outpatient treatment is $103.
The MOH also said that, “about 93% of the successful applications received full assistance,” and that the “patients’ outstanding subsidised bills were fully paid for by Medifund.”
As the MOH also does not provide full data on the medical fees charges, it cannot be verified if patients did indeed receive full funding.
Another revealing finding is that the number of Singaporeans who needed financial help actually increased by a staggering 30 percent, even though the Singapore population remained relatively constant.
Would this suggest that more Singaporeans would have sunk into poverty and were thus unable to pay for their medical bills?
As Mr Leong Sze Hian asked, “Don’t you find it rather alarming that for a first world country like Singapore – 766,000 were approved for Medifund?”
Mr Leong also noted that patients are only allowed to use Medifund “after patients (they) are unable to pay for Class C and B2 treatment in public hospitals – and after very stringent means testing under the criteria for Medifund.”
Estimates put Singapore’s poverty rate at around 30 percent, as the government has yet to be willing to define a poverty line.
When the $4.1 billion Medifund that has been accumulated is seen in perspective, the Medifund assistance give out represents only 3 percent of the total fund that has been accumulated thus far. This is the same amount that was utilised the year before.
Which puts to the question – if there were more needy Singaporeans who required assistance and if medical fees would have increased, why has the average Medifund assistance per person remained the same, and why was the government only willing to spend 3 percent of a massive $4.1 billion accumulated thus far?
In fact, that only 3 percent of the fund was utilised to support Singaporeans, even as the government is only willing to spend 30 percent to subsidise healthcare costs in Singapore – the lowest among the developed countries – seems to be vastly inadequate. Countries at a similar level of wealth would subsidise 85 percent of healthcare costs.
This is especially so since stories of how Singaporeans have opted to die instead of choosing to seek medical treatment have become more prevalent now.
The government might want to boast of increasing financial assistance to needy Singaporeans for medical assistance but when looked at in-depth, the assistance rendered is still too little.
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31 Oct 2014 - 10:40am
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[photo crdit: The Straits Times]
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it has given out more Medifund funds to more needy Singaporeans last year.
In a media statement released yesterday, MOH said that, “About $130 million in Medifund assistance was provided to needy patients” in FY2013.”
It said that this is “an increase of 27% from the $102 million a year ago”.
It also said that “The number of Medifund applications approved also increased by about 30%”. This is “from 587,000 in FY2012 to 766,000 in FY2013”.
According to MOH, more Medifund assistance was given out because there were a “wider range of services covered by Medifund” and because of the “Government’s capital injection of $1 billion in FY2013”.
However, when you look at the average assistance that each patient is able to get in FY2013, each person only gets an average of $170 per person.
This is compared to the average of $167 that each person was only able to receive in FY2012.
As such, even though the total funding has increased, the funding for each person who required assistance did not improve by much. However, since medical fees would have increased, it is curious why funding assistance remained at about the same level.
The MOH does not provide in-depth breakdowns, so it is impossible to analyse.
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According to MOH, the average assistance per admission for impatient treatment (i.e. hospitalisation) is $1,579. And the average assistance per application for outpatient treatment is $103.
The MOH also said that, “about 93% of the successful applications received full assistance,” and that the “patients’ outstanding subsidised bills were fully paid for by Medifund.”
As the MOH also does not provide full data on the medical fees charges, it cannot be verified if patients did indeed receive full funding.
Another revealing finding is that the number of Singaporeans who needed financial help actually increased by a staggering 30 percent, even though the Singapore population remained relatively constant.
Would this suggest that more Singaporeans would have sunk into poverty and were thus unable to pay for their medical bills?
As Mr Leong Sze Hian asked, “Don’t you find it rather alarming that for a first world country like Singapore – 766,000 were approved for Medifund?”
Mr Leong also noted that patients are only allowed to use Medifund “after patients (they) are unable to pay for Class C and B2 treatment in public hospitals – and after very stringent means testing under the criteria for Medifund.”
Estimates put Singapore’s poverty rate at around 30 percent, as the government has yet to be willing to define a poverty line.
When the $4.1 billion Medifund that has been accumulated is seen in perspective, the Medifund assistance give out represents only 3 percent of the total fund that has been accumulated thus far. This is the same amount that was utilised the year before.
Which puts to the question – if there were more needy Singaporeans who required assistance and if medical fees would have increased, why has the average Medifund assistance per person remained the same, and why was the government only willing to spend 3 percent of a massive $4.1 billion accumulated thus far?
In fact, that only 3 percent of the fund was utilised to support Singaporeans, even as the government is only willing to spend 30 percent to subsidise healthcare costs in Singapore – the lowest among the developed countries – seems to be vastly inadequate. Countries at a similar level of wealth would subsidise 85 percent of healthcare costs.
This is especially so since stories of how Singaporeans have opted to die instead of choosing to seek medical treatment have become more prevalent now.
The government might want to boast of increasing financial assistance to needy Singaporeans for medical assistance but when looked at in-depth, the assistance rendered is still too little.
