Adviser Ms Tin Pei Ling: I believe many will be happy to hear of this. My parliamentary colleagues and I had lobbied for this in Parliament over the past years. Hence, this move is certainly encouraging. Medisave is currently allowed for certain outpatient scans and treatments, but the scope and withdrawal limits have constrained a number of elderly patients. They typically require more regular medical attention and have lower budget due to the lack of income post retirement. Over the past years, I had met several elderly residents who were afraid to seek treatment for fear of being unable to pay. Among them, a number may not have enough cash but have substantial savings in their Medisave. They do not want to rely on Medifund (medical social welfare) because they believe they should rely on themselves. Medisave use is therefore important to them. Of course, the Pioneer Generation Package has been a tremendous help, but there are some who did not qualify or qualify but have complex medical conditions that the enhanced subsidies cannot fully meet their medical financial outlay. Hence, the new Flexi-Medisave scheme will certainly help to relieve our senior citizens’ medical financial burden, as well as encourage those who need medical attention to seek treatment early to prevent further complications. Another group of Singaporeans who may benefit from this scheme but do not qualify are those in their 50s. They are at an age when health problems begin to emerge or worsen and yet, they have many pressing financial obligations (e.g., kids still studying in tertiary institutions and elderly parents who also need a lot of medical attention). This group of Singaporeans should be considered for the scheme as well, though I am also mindful that careful study is needed to ensure that they will not be left worse off. For example, at what age and by how much more should they be allowed to draw from Medisave. One reason is that the CPF offers 4% return, and if Medisave is drawn down too early, Singaporeans will miss the opportunity to grow their money for future use. Moreover, they may already be using their Medisave for their parents’ treatments. Notwithstanding these complexities, I still believe that the increased flexibility, if carefully applied, will benefit this group of Singaporeans. Hence, I hope the government will continue to study the possibility of expanding the scheme and share the analysis with us in time to come.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:22:31 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015