Government will refine fundamentally sound health-care system: MOH

We thank Dr Jeremy Lim ('4 myths about national health insurance'; last Thursday), Dr Lim Meng Kin, Dr Eric Finkelstein and fellow Singaporeans mentioned in the article for sharing their perspectives on the funding of health care in Singapore.

We are glad that there is broad consensus that our framework of government subsidies and the 3Ms - Medisave, MediShield and Medifund - is fundamentally sound.

Medisave is a personal savings scheme that helps individuals with their share of health-care costs, while MediShield is an insurance scheme that helps patients cope with large medical bills by risk pooling.

Medifund is a targeted government subsidy scheme to help the middle-lower income patients.

This framework balances between individual responsibility and government subsidy, and allows us to keep health care affordable in a sustainable way while achieving good national health outcomes that are better than most countries'.

There is undoubtedly room for refinement of the framework, especially as we respond to future changes in disease patterns and the ageing of our population.

In doing so, we should build on existing strengths while minimising the risks and avoiding the pitfalls that other countries have experienced, such as the moral hazard of a buffet syndrome arising from free medical treatment.

We have announced in the Budget that coverage of MediShield, which already covers 92 per cent of Singaporeans, will be extended to members up to 90 years of age.

The ministry is also reviewing the extension of coverage to help meet the needs of other groups.

We hope that Singaporeans will support these changes.

Most of all, we agree that the key to a higher quality of life is to encourage and support Singaporeans to live healthily - through regular exercise, having a balanced diet and taking care of their health.

The Health Promotion Board runs national health promotion and disease prevention programmes.

Its Integrated Screening Programme provides subsidised health screening for common chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol at very affordable rates.

Together, we can help Singaporeans live long and live in good health.

Bey Mui Leng (Ms)

Director, Corporate Communications
Ministry of Health (MOH)