PRIVATISATION OF MEDISHIELD PLUS (Surplus funds)

Column No : 1937

PRIVATISATION OF MEDISHIELD PLUS

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(Surplus funds): **

6.

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Health what is the Ministry's plans for the MediShield surplus contributed by members of the MediShield Plus scheme in light of its recent privatisation.

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7.

Mr Low Thia Khiang asked the Minister for Health whether those who were members of the MediShield Plus scheme before its privatisation will enjoy some benefits derived from the surplus of the scheme.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: MediShield Plus was operated by the CPF Board. Like similar catastrophic illness plans operated by other insurers, MediShield Plus is a long-term insurance plan. Once a member comes down with a chronic illness, like kidney failure or cancer, MediShield Plus is committed to fund part of his medical treatment in the future. For this reason, MediShield Plus has to build up reserves to meet such long-term liabilities. This is to ensure the continued financial viability of the plan.

From October 2005, the CPF Board has transferred the entire MediShield Plus portfolio to NTUC Income. NTUC Income was selected through an open competitive tender.

As a requirement in the tender, NTUC Income has to continue providing the insurance benefits for all existing MediShield Plus members, regardless of their health status. Members are thus unaffected by the change of ownership of MediShield Plus. In particular, NTUC Income will continue to service the long-term insurance claims from those with chronic illnesses.

When transferring the MediShield Plus portfolio, the CPF Board also handed over to NTUC Income the reserves of $26 million. In this way, the long-term benefits of MediShield Plus members are preserved despite the change of ownership.

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Column No : 1939

AVIAN FLU

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(Inter-Ministry cooperation and precaution): **

8.

Dr Amy Khor Lean Suan asked the Minister for Health (a) how is his Ministry cooperating and coordinating with the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources to safeguard Singapore against a bird flu outbreak; and (b) whether checks on migratory and other birds have been stepped up as a precaution against bird flu.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: The risk to human health posed by bird flu is low, unless and until the Avian flu virus mutates into a human flu virus. The risk of such a mutation is real and hence we need to be prepared for such a human flu pandemic scenario.

Protecting Singapore against such a disease outbreak and preparing our response to it is a national effort, involving the public, private and people sectors. In the public sector, our response is coordinated and integrated at the national level through the Homefront Crisis Management System. Under this framework, all the relevant Ministries are involved and they are assigned roles and responsibilities in accordance with their domain expertise.

Preventing bird flu from infecting our poultry is a key priority at the current stage of development of this possible flu pandemic. The Ministry of National Development has put in comprehensive measures to prevent any outbreaks of Avian Influenza in wild birds and poultry in Singapore. These include bio-securing our poultry farms and stepping up checks on wild birds, imported birds and local farm poultry.

As the Minister for National Development will elaborate on the measures pertaining to checks on migratory and other birds in reply to a separate Oral Question, I will not repeat them here.