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Medifund Helps More Needy Patients

9 December 2010

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09 Dec 2010

  1. More than $64 million of Medifund aid was given out to help needy patients last year. This is $5.3 million more than 2008, and an increase of 9%. The lion’s share of $56.7 million was disbursed to patients in the acute sector while $7.5 million was disbursed to those in the Intermediate and Long-term Care (ILTC) sector.  Needy elderly patients received close to a third of overall Medifund assistance ($18.9 million). This was an increase of $2.2 million (13.2%) from 2008.

  2. For the first time, Medifund assistance was also extended to subsidised patients in the 11 private nursing homes on the portable subsidy scheme who had difficulties affording their medical bills. The Agency of Integrated Care (AIC)’s Medifund Committee approved all 15 Medifund applications  from patients on the portable subsidy scheme last year, and they received aid amounting to about $21,000.

  3. Successful applications for Medifund also increased in 2009. There were a total of 393,980 successful applications in 2009, an increase of 23,813 (6.4%) over 2008. Of the successful applications, more than 90% received full assistance, i.e. 100% assistance for the outstanding subsidised bill.  On average, Medifund and Medifund Silver assistance given was $1,029 per inpatient episode and $89 per outpatient episode.

  4. Medifund and Medifund Silver form the safety net for Singaporeans who are unable to afford their medical bills despite heavy government subsidies, Medisave and MediShield/ElderShield. In FY2009, the Government further injected $100m into the Fund, bringing the total capital sum to $1.79 billion as at end-FY2009.

  5. Patients who have problems paying their medical bills can approach the Medical Social Workers of restructured hospitals and institutions and Medifund-approved ILTC institutions for assistance.  The local Medifund committees at the approved institutions will decide on the appropriate level of assistance for the applications. 

  6. More details can be found in the FY2009 Medical Endowment Fund Annual Report here: https://www.moh.gov.sg/resources-statistics/reports/medical-endowment-fund-annual-report-2009-2010.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

9 DECEMBER 2010

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