SINGAPORE: The Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Health has submitted four recommendations to the government to make healthcare more affordable.
One is the right siting of care within the continuum of care.
The GPC said feedback from social workers indicates that they see regular cases of clients who choose to voluntarily admit themselves or extend their stay in hospital so that they can use their Medisave for treatment.
It said Medisave curbs that over-encourage the use of acute healthcare system should be reduced and minimised.
It also wants the current ElderShield payout to be revised.
The GPC said the current payout is not enough for Singaporeans to even cover nursing home fees.
The second recommendation is managing rising healthcare costs.
The GPC said the standard drug list should be expanded and regularly reviewed.
This will benefit the public as the cost of medication will be lowered and out-of-pocket cost minimised.
Enhancing the 3M framework is another recommendation.
The GPC said the scope of Medisave usage should be enhanced.
Medisave should be allowed to be used for health screening, essential dental procedures, physiotherapy and occupational therapy up to a certain cap to prevent excessive usage.
Medisave withdrawal limits should be regularly reviewed to ensure that the out-of-pocket expenditure for Singaporeans remains manageable.
It wants to make sure that Medisave is not depleted prematurely as people use it to support family members.
The GPC also wants the government to strengthen and expand the MediShield coverage to community and social care costs and remove the age ceiling on MediShield.
Finally the GPC said existing medical assistance schemes and frameworks should be reviewed and rationalised.
It wants the age criterion of Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) removed, the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) expanded and the Medisave limits on usage under CDMP raised.
The GPC also wants existing financial support schemes and their application processes reviewed and simplified to ensure accessibility to those who need them.
GPC chairman Lam Pin Min has submitted the recommendations to the Ministry of Health for its consideration.
He said: "We have received feedback that there are occasions that patients ran out of Medisave to pay their premiums and as a result their MediShield lapsed.
"In times of crisis when they need medical treatment or hospitalisation, they are unable to tap on Medishield to pay for their medical expenses and for such cases sometimes they have to apply to the medical social worker and the hospital for Medifund assistance...
"Instead of using Medifund to pay for their entire bill, wouldn't it be cheaper if someone could come along to assist these patients to pay for the premium - which will definitely cost much less than the total cost of the treatment itself?
"With that, we hope the government can look into some form of assistance scheme to prevent the MediShield coverage of these low-income Singaporeans to lapse."
He added: "I personally feel the current 3M framework is actually a good one. However, we need to tweak it, to make it even better, such as liberalising the use of Medisave and strengthening the coverage of MediShield so that eventually the out-of-pocket expenditure by Singaporeans will be left more manageable."
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said the GPC's report is a thoughtful one, reflecting the concerns of many Singaporeans.
He agreed with the key thrusts such as care integration, managing healthcare costs, enhancing the healthcare financing framework and reviewing and rationalising existing medical assistance schemes.
Mr Gan said the ministry is studying the suggestions, adding that many of the current policy reviews are aligned to the recommendations.
- CNA/xq/ir
