POLICY ON MEDISAVE

Mr Chew Heng Ching asked the Acting Minister for Health if he will explain the policy on the use of Medisave by account holders and whether there are plans to extend it for other uses.

The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Sir, the Medisave Scheme was introduced specifically to meet the hospitalization needs of the average Singaporean worker and his immediate family. The immediate family includes his spouse, children and parents. It has also been extended to include his grandparents if they are Singapore citizens or permanent residents.

At present, Medisave can be used to pay for the hospitalization expenses incurred in Government and private hospitals. In the Government hospitals, Medisave covers the full hospital bill. There are limits to the Medisave withdrawals by private hospitals. These are:

(i) a limit of $300 a day for the daily hospital charges which includes investigations, medicines and doctor's daily attendance fee. From this limit of $300 per day, $50 can be used to pay for the doctor's daily attendance fee.

(ii) surgical operation fees based on the fees charged in the Singapore General Hospital.

My Ministry has already extended Medisave to cover day surgery, radiotherapy, expenses incurred in Government or private hospitals for deliveries up to the third child and recently Hepatitis B vaccination.

The only other extension presently being considered is the payment of premiums for the Catastrophic Illness Insurance Scheme when it is finalized.

Mr Chew Heng Ching: Sir, with this proposed extension of Medisave usage, are there plans to increase the contribution rate or to raise the limit of $15,000?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: There are no plans at the moment to increase the 6% contribution rate. However, my Ministry is closely monitoring the usage and the profile of the balances in the Medisave accounts to see whether there is any need to increase it in the future.

[Mr Deputy Speaker in the Chair]

11.40 am