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Extending age cap for Medishield

18 July 2005

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18 Jul 2005

Question No:  143  

Question

Name of the Person: Dr Ong Seh Hong, MP for Aljunied GRC

To ask the Minister for Health whether his Ministry will consider further extending the age cap for Medishield coverage beyond 80 years or removing altogether the age cap for Medishield, to include more elderly Singaporeans under a broader based medical cover, particularly when this group will be most dependent on medical cover in their very old age.

Reply

Reply From MOH

The age cap for MediShield coverage is not a permanent one. As life expectancy goes up, it should move in tandem. 

The current age cap of 80 was set in 2001. It is time for another review. 

Now that the MediShield reform has been implemented, I have begun to look into this possible refinement. 

In this regard, the MediShield reform has already produced some early benefits. There are now four insurers offering catastrophic illness insurance coverage for Singaporeans above 80. It is likely that the current MediShield Plus tender may attract bids with an age cap higher than 80 years. If so, their bids will also help us in our study of where to re-set the age cap and the premiums for such an age band.