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[h=2]Medical professor also says that 3M system must go[/h]
March 28th, 2013 |
Author: Contributions
One of Singapore’s most distinguished clinician teachers, Professor Feng Pao-Hsii, wrote last week in the Straits Times that “the 3Ms – Medisave, MediShield and Medifund – are out of date and there is a need to revamp the whole health funding system.”
Reforming the 3M system is the crux of the SDP’s alternative policy paper The SDP National Healthcare Plan: Caring For All Singaporeans.
Our plan advocates the abandonment of the 3Ms, which in any case accounts for only up to 15 percent of healthcare costs while consuming a tremendous amount of bureaucracy and paperwork. The resulting healthcare financing system places the burden of healthcare cost disproportionately on the people with the Government paying only a minor share.
Even with the Medisave scheme, which is being actively tweaked, there are still significant costs that come from out of pocket especially for outpatient charges. As the Medisave funds are taken from one’s CPF, it diminishes even further one’s retirement savings (already most of Singaporeans CPF funds are used for housing).
In place of the 3Ms, the SDP proposes a singular fund called the National Health Investment Fund (NHIF) into which citizens and Government jointly pay. The amounts for each person varies depending on income level but, on average, each person pays $600 (deducted from their CPF accounts).
Read also “Fundamental shifts” in healthcare financing system?
Read also MOH must tackle root cause of healthcare problems
The total from the premiums collected from citizens will be slightly more than $1 billion. The Government will pay approximately $10 billion into the NHIF. This covers much of current healthcare expenditure. Upon hospitalisation, patients will co-pay 10 percent of their medical bills. (This will be limited to $2,000 per year if the bills exceed $20,000.) The remainder of the bill will be paid by the NHIF.
In this manner, no one will be denied proper healthcare and those who receive treatment will not end up with crippling medical bills.
Professor Feng, who is also Emeritus Chairman of the National Arthritis Foundation Singapore, cited the denial of health insurance under Medishield to patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic medical condition that cannot be prevented by any kind of lifestyle modification, adding that this “is a travesty of the very concept of an inclusive health-care system.”
It was with this in mind that the SDP has proposed replacing the 3Ms with a comprehensive single-payer NHIF system. Under this plan, health insurance would be non-profit state-operated and no one will be denied coverage.
The SDP believes that healthcare is an investment in the health of our people and no one should be denied of proper care.
.
Dr Tan Lip Hong
* Dr Tan is a member of SDP Healthcare Advisory Panel
One of Singapore’s most distinguished clinician teachers, Professor Feng Pao-Hsii, wrote last week in the Straits Times that “the 3Ms – Medisave, MediShield and Medifund – are out of date and there is a need to revamp the whole health funding system.”
Reforming the 3M system is the crux of the SDP’s alternative policy paper The SDP National Healthcare Plan: Caring For All Singaporeans.
Our plan advocates the abandonment of the 3Ms, which in any case accounts for only up to 15 percent of healthcare costs while consuming a tremendous amount of bureaucracy and paperwork. The resulting healthcare financing system places the burden of healthcare cost disproportionately on the people with the Government paying only a minor share.
Even with the Medisave scheme, which is being actively tweaked, there are still significant costs that come from out of pocket especially for outpatient charges. As the Medisave funds are taken from one’s CPF, it diminishes even further one’s retirement savings (already most of Singaporeans CPF funds are used for housing).
In place of the 3Ms, the SDP proposes a singular fund called the National Health Investment Fund (NHIF) into which citizens and Government jointly pay. The amounts for each person varies depending on income level but, on average, each person pays $600 (deducted from their CPF accounts).
Read also “Fundamental shifts” in healthcare financing system?
Read also MOH must tackle root cause of healthcare problems
The total from the premiums collected from citizens will be slightly more than $1 billion. The Government will pay approximately $10 billion into the NHIF. This covers much of current healthcare expenditure. Upon hospitalisation, patients will co-pay 10 percent of their medical bills. (This will be limited to $2,000 per year if the bills exceed $20,000.) The remainder of the bill will be paid by the NHIF.
In this manner, no one will be denied proper healthcare and those who receive treatment will not end up with crippling medical bills.
Professor Feng, who is also Emeritus Chairman of the National Arthritis Foundation Singapore, cited the denial of health insurance under Medishield to patients suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus, a chronic medical condition that cannot be prevented by any kind of lifestyle modification, adding that this “is a travesty of the very concept of an inclusive health-care system.”
It was with this in mind that the SDP has proposed replacing the 3Ms with a comprehensive single-payer NHIF system. Under this plan, health insurance would be non-profit state-operated and no one will be denied coverage.
The SDP believes that healthcare is an investment in the health of our people and no one should be denied of proper care.
.
Dr Tan Lip Hong
* Dr Tan is a member of SDP Healthcare Advisory Panel
