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Overcoming the economic tsunami –

New initiatives to benefit the healthcare sector

To help Singaporeans battle


the economic tsunami, there
will be a substantial increase
in the healthcare budget this
year for government
subvention to restructured
hospitals and healthcare
institutions and for helping
the population cope with
their healthcare bills.
New Initiatives in Healthcare

More liberal New &


use of MSV & expanded
strengthening infrastructure
of Medifund
34% increase in
health budget
to $3.7b.
Increase in
patient
subsidies to
$2.2b
Tweaking govt More jobs &
subvention to training
reward low-cost awards
providers
Liberalisation of Medisave
• By June 09, Medisave withdrawal limits for surgical procedures will
be expanded

• Surgeries categorised into 21 tables in ascending complexity

• Current withdrawal limits: Between $150 for Table 1A to $5,000 for


Table 7C. New withdrawal limits: Between $250 for Table 1A to
$7,550 for Table 7C

• This will help to reduce out-of-pocket


expenses for all surgical patients
Proposed TOSP Limits
Existing Table
TOSP TABLE Proposed Table Limits Increase in Limits
Limits
1A $150 $250 $100
1B $200 $350 $150
1C $250 $450 $200
2A $350 $600 $250
2B $450 $750 $300
2C $600 $950 $350
3A $800 $1,250 $450
3B $1,000 $1,550 $550
3C $1,200 $1,850 $650
4A $1,400 $2,150 $750
4B $1,600 $2,600 $1,000
4C $1,800 $2,850 $1,050
5A $2,000 $3,150 $1,150
5B $2,200 $3,550 $1,350
5C $2,400 $3,950 $1,550
6A $2,800 $4,650 $1,850
6B $3,200 $5,150 $1,950
6C $3,600 $5,650 $2,050
7A $4,000 $6,200 $2,200
7B $4,500 $6,900 $2,400
7C $5,000 $7,550 $2,550
Extension of Medisave to mental
illnesses

• By Oct 09, Medisave will be further liberalised to


benefit the mentally ill patients, starting with major
conditions of depression and schizophrenia

• Framework will be put in place to cover treatment by


psychiatrists and GPs
Tweaking Govt Subvention to Ensure
Competitiveness
To inform the public on the cost of hospitalisation and to allow them “shop around”,
MOH publishes monthly hospital bill size statistics on its website. The effort has, for
example, led to greater price competition among clinics performing lasik operation.
However, for most other procedures, patients tend to go for higher-cost providers
even when competent lower-cost providers are available.

Eg: Average bill size for cataract surgery


Public Hospitals Private Hospitals

Day AH CGH NUH SNEC TTSH ESH GH MAH MEH Variation


Surgery (Highest –
Status Lowest 50th
Percentile
Bill)
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ %
Private 2,942 2,916 3,815 2,962 2,870 3,524 4,185 3,309 3,614 1,315 46

Subsidise 976 913 1,001 952 875 - - - - 126 14


d
Tweaking Govt Subvention to Ensure
Competitiveness

• Thus, to allow greater competition


and to help patients save,
government subvention will be
tweaked to incentivise healthcare
providers to deliver better
outcomes at lower cost

• We hope a lasik-like price fall can


occur with greater bill
transparency, competition
amongst providers and informed
choices by consumers.
New and expanded infrastructure

• New infrastructure to meet increased patient loads and new needs

Primary Hospitals Teaching & National Step-


Care Research Specialty Down Care
Centers
• More • Increase interim • Duke-NUS • 2nd Heart and • New Ren-Ci
polyclinics beds and clinical Graduate Cancer Centres at Hospital
space Medical NUH
• New models of • Community
School
primary care • Khoo Teck Puat • Redevelop Nat. Hospital sites
(eg. Jurong Hospital (KTPH) • SGH Heart Centre next to KTPH
Med. Centre) by 2010 Pathology (NHC) and JGH
Building
• Jurong General • Redevelop Comm.
Hospital (JGH) by Diseases Centre
2015 (CDC)
• Future hospital • Nat. Addict. Mgt
sites being Centre (NAMC)
reserved
More jobs and training awards
RIGHT NUMBER RIGHT SKILL

•4,500 more jobs over •Help retrenched


the next two years Singaporeans take up
a career in healthcare
•50% for nurses
•At least 250
• 25% for doctors and mid-career conversion
allied health opportunities

•Subsidised training costs


•25% for administrative and monthly allowance
and ancillary staff
•Increase in number of
scholarships and bursaries
for allied health students to 250

Increasing manpower and capability

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