Government's way of keeping healthcare affordable.

<u> Medishield

Medishield was introduced since 1990 to 2005 to help a group of

people who require long-term treatment of more serious illnesses but were not able

to pay for their hospitalisation.

Medishield is a national healthcare insurance scheme. Singapore pay for this scheme with their

Medisave. Patients can make claims from medishield to pay for large medical bills which Medisave does not cover.

For example , a patient can use Medishield to pay for more long-term hospitalisation or treatment of serious illnesses such as dialysis.

Over the years , the use of Medisave . has expanded to meet the specific needs of the people.

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Medifund

Medifund is an endowment fund set up by the Government as a safety net to help needy Singapore citizens who are unable to pay their medical expenses. This is a safety net for those who are unable to afford the subsidised charges at restructured hospitals even with their Medisave and MediShield.

Some self-employed people do not have medisave. They may not have enough cash to pay their medical bills.

In 1993 , the givernment started with a fund of $200 million and the interest earned from this

fund is given to public hospitals to provide help for needy patients.

Patients who need elp can then apply for the fund at the hospital where they are being treated.

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Government subsidies

To ensure that healthcare remains afforedable for most singaporeans ,

especially the lower-income group, the government gives different rates of subsidies to

the different classes of wards in hospitals.

For example , Class C wards receive the most in subsidies.

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Means-testing

Subsidies provided by the Government should benefit patients who need them most.

Resources would be more fairy distributed if those cannot afford to pay for healthcare

gets the most subsidies.

In the same way , those who are more well-to-do would benefit less from subsidies.

Means-testing has been debated over the years .

However. it has not been implemented in government hospitals yet because

the government needs to consider how the policy would affect Singaporeans.