MEDISAVE WITHDRAWAL FOR COMMUNITY HOSPITALS (Rationale for limit)

Dr Kanwaljit Soin asked the Minister for Health what is the rationale for the limit of Medisave withdrawal of $100 per day for community hospitals as compared to $300 per day for restructured hospitals when the ward charges for community hospitals are 80% of those for restructured hospitals.

The Minister for Health (BG George Yong-Boon Yeo): Sir, with effect from 1st January 1994, the withdrawal limit for community hospitals was raised to $150 a day. The daily withdrawal limit is lower for community hospitals because their charges are also lower.

In deciding on the withdrawal limit for community hospitals, consideration was given to their total daily hospital charges, and not just the ward charges which form only a part of the total hospital bill.

The average daily hospital charges in the Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital are about half those in the restructured acute hospitals. This excludes the surgical fees for which there are separate Medisave withdrawal limits which are the same for both the community and acute hospitals. We have therefore pegged the withdrawal limit for the daily hospital charges at community hospitals to half that for the acute hospitals.

The withdrawal limit of $150 a day will be adequate to cover the full Class B2 and C bills in a community hospital.

Dr Kanwaljit Soin: Would the Minister agree that the ward charges in a community hospital are 80% of those for restructured hospitals? If the Minister agrees, what I am asking is that the withdrawal should then be 80% of the ward charges because the $300 per day just refers to ward charges. The second reason I am asking the question is this: I feel that if you do not allow enough withdrawals for ward charges, it could discourage patients from wanting to stay in community hospitals and that would prolong their stay in the tertiary hospitals.

BG George Yong-Boon Yeo: Sir, I thank Dr Soin for her concern. As I mentioned earlier, what we are concerned with is total medical bill, not just ward charges. If I can give the Member some numbers: the average daily hospital charge in Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital for C class ward is $34 compared to $79 in the restructured hospital, and we are allowing the limit of $150, not including surgical fees. For B2, it is $63 at Ang Mo Kio Community Hospital compared to $135 in the restructured hospital. This is again easily covered by the $150 limit.