Insurance claims study shows rise in hospital bills due to implants, drugs

S'pore among Asia-Pacific countries with a lower 2025 projection for medical inflation

- Claire Huang

A recent analysis of the drivers of healthcare inflation in Singapore found that a specific component that covers implants and drugs, and that makes up the bulk of total hospital bills, has ballooned.

Classified as "other fees", this category typically also includes lab tests, ward procedure charges, costs of prescriptions and daily treatments.

This was found in a study by NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health issued in early March, where it looked at the public and private hospital claims of five of seven Integrated Shield Plan (IP) insurers — AIA Singapore, Great Eastern Life, Income Insurance, Prudential Singapore and Singlife — between 2016 and 2020.

The analysis, obtained by The Straits Times, found that the other five components of hospital bills — surgeon fees, anaesthetist fees, consumables' costs, room and board charges, as well as occupational therapy facility fees — remained relatively stable.

For instance, surgeon fee claims lowered over the period studied and accounted for less than a quarter of total hospital bills.

This comes against the backdrop of rising medical inflation across the Asia-Pacific region and globally which, according to a survey by insurance brokerage and advisory firm WTW released in December, is driven by a myriad of factors, including medical practitioners recommending too many services and higher costs of new technology.

Still, Singapore remains among countries in the Asia-Pacific with a lower 2025 projection for medical inflation than the regional average, the survey found.

The NUS study also said the average hospital bill per claim between 2016 and 2020 grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.8 per cent.

Meanwhile, the average annual hospital bill for every person who made a claim rose at a CAGR of 5.8 per cent in the same period.