MediShield Life review reflects sober realities of an ageing society

Medical costs will continue to rise; people must be prepared to pay more in premiums

- Joyce Teo

The recent review of MediShield Life revealed what the healthcare priorities are in the coming years: ensure adequate coverage of large hospital bills, which will continue to go up, and enable the shift towards providing more care in less costly non-hospital settings.

Both these priorities reflect the realities of an ageing Singapore, coupled with the increasing availability of pricier new treatments and rising manpower costs. Despite the national effort to focus on preventive care, healthcare costs will continue to rise.

With claim limits raised for hospital stays, treatments and the policy year, the national insurance plan will once again cover nine in 10 subsidised bills, as it was designed to do.

At the moment, it covers fewer than eight in 10 such bills because claim limits have not kept pace with medical costs.

Patients can be more assured that big hospital bills will be covered.

At the same time, new outpatient treatments and home-based care have been added to the coverage to keep a lid on costs. This will help shift care outside of hospitals, said experts. Claim limits have also been raised to accommodate higher outpatient and community hospital bills.

But the changes that industry experts are waiting to see for the effect they will have are the reductions in the amount of a private hospital bill that MediShield Life will cover.

To ensure that more expensive bills from private hospitals and Class A and B1 wards do not draw bigger payouts at the expense of subsidised Class B2 and C wards, private bills are reduced to the equivalent of a subsidised bill before MediShield Life payouts are computed.

The pro-ration factors have been adjusted so that a smaller proportion of private hospital and Class A and B1 ward bills will be covered by MediShield Life.