Medishield coverage beyond maximum age

13 August 2012

Question No. 569

Name of person: Mr David Ong

Question

             To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the current number of MediShield policyholders who have not fully expended their lifetime limit of $200,000 in claims upon reaching the maximum coverage age; and (b) whether the Ministry will consider extending MediShield coverage beyond the maximum coverage age for policyholders who have not fully expended their lifetime limit by then.

Answer

            The number of MediShield policyholders who exceeded the current lifetime limit of $200,000 was 11 in 2010 and 43 in 2011. We expect the number to continue to increase as policyholders age and accumulate more claims over time.

Hence, to provide more assurance to MediShield members, we intend to extend the MediShield lifetime limit from $200,000 to $300,000, as well as the policy year limit, from $50,000 to $70,000. We will also raise the MediShield maximum coverage age from 85 to 90 years to benefit older Singaporeans.

Based on the current life expectancy profile of our population, a relatively small proportion of Singaporeans live beyond age 90. As such, risk-pooling through insurance may not be the most effective way to help the very old defray their healthcare costs. Help is currently available through other means, like Medifund Silver, which is dedicated to our elderly, and annual Medisave top-ups under the GST Voucher scheme. The Government has also enhanced subsidies in the primary care and intermediate and long-term care sector to further improve the affordability of such services.

We understand that Singaporeans are concerned about coverage beyond age 90, and will continue to study possible options to address this.