UPDATE ON THE ELDERSHIELD SCHEME

UPDATE ON THE ELDERSHIELD SCHEME: 3.

Mdm Halimah Yacob asked the Minister for Health if he will give an update on (a) the total number of people who are on the ElderShield scheme; (b) how many people have benefited from the scheme since its establishment; and (c) what was the total amount paid out under the scheme.

The Minister for Health (Mr Khaw Boon Wan): Sir, there are more than 790,000 ElderShield policyholders. More than 3,100 people have benefited from Eldershield since its establishment in 2002. The total ElderShield payout amounted to $17 million.

Mdm Halimah Yacob (Jurong): Sir, I would like to ask the Minister why is the number of ElderShield recipients so low. Is this because the qualifying criteria are too stringent and, therefore, people cannot benefit? 3,100 out of 790,000 is a very small number. If the qualifying criteria are too stringent, would the Ministry be prepared to review it?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Sir, we should not be surprised by the low claims number. There are two main reasons for it. One, it is still a new scheme, meaning the policy holders are largely young and, as we know, severe disability is likely to inflict the elderly rather than the young people. It does not mean that the young people may not get disabled. Some do, as some of the claims numbers show, but largely this is a problem of the future. So the collections in the first few years will build up reserves for possible claims in the future. That is one major reason.

The second reason is that Members may remember that when we introduced ElderShield in 2002, we introduced a scheme called IDAPE. IDAPE was specifically aimed at those who already have disability and, therefore, not insurable, plus all Singaporeans who are above the age of 70, I think. IDAPE, therefore, has taken over the bulk of the risks for today. So if you look at IDAPE claims, relying on memory, I think it is about 8,000, which is almost three times the ElderShield claims of 3,000. I am therefore not surprised by the low claims ratio. I will be very surprised if the ratio remains low over the next 10 or 20 years.