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Experts urge supervision over how MediShield Life will be run

SINGAPORE — With the MediShield Life Review Committee (MLRC) having revealed its recommendations on enhancing the compulsory insurance scheme, healthcare experts called for supervision over how the scheme is administered and for the Government to keep an eye on Medisave adequacy when the enhancements are rolled out.

SINGAPORE — With the MediShield Life Review Committee (MLRC) having revealed its recommendations on enhancing the compulsory insurance scheme, healthcare experts called for supervision over how the scheme is administered and for the Government to keep an eye on Medisave adequacy when the enhancements are rolled out.

The public also needs to be educated on the changes, they told TODAY.

Healthcare policy expert Phua Kai Hong, of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said clear supply-side guidelines needed to be established.

“All countries that have social health insurance have clear rules — committees, institutions that evaluate treatments and procedures. And they have to monitor the claims,” said Associate Professor Phua. The guidelines could include a pre-authorised list of treatments for various conditions, requiring a second doctor’s opinion before the go-ahead for a particular treatment, or pricing of doctors’ fees, he said.

Private insurers must also be overseen, as many big claims are coming from the private sector and “when the rules are not clear, there’s excessive marketing”, he said.

While the MLRC said the additional 1 per cent to be contributed to Medisave by employers “will be sufficient to cover the increases in MediShield premiums for most people”, Dr Jeremy Lim, Partner and Head of Asia Pacific Region, Health & Life Sciences at consulting firm Oliver Wyman, felt that Medisave contributions would ultimately go up. “The ability to pay off all of the premiums out of Medisave will help reassure Singaporeans, but the more you take out of Medisave, the more the Medisave Minimum Sum goes up over time with inflation and so on,” he said.

When asked about the sustainability of MediShield Life premiums after the expiration of the transitional subsidy — which will be provided over four years to help Singaporeans adjust to the premiums, Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee (Health), said: “You know our Government; once the time comes, there will be other subsidies.”

He added that by then, the premiums would have been reviewed multiple times.

Dr Chia, who is also a Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, said “levers” to ensure premium affordability include subsidies or Medisave top-ups.

Dr Lim felt it was important that the Government explains how it arrived at the premiums and makes sure that Singaporeans understand how much they will be paying for the next five years as the transitional subsidy expires “so that they can — not just emotionally but intellectually — understand the need for a premium increase and its magnitude”.

Dr Chia suggested that the campaign to educate the public should be similar to that of the Pioneer Generation Package — “through various channels … with grassroots ambassadors”.

The labour movement yesterday called on the Government and employers to look into ways to remove a duplication of insurance coverage and ensure the relevance of MediShield Life, and said it would continue to explore measures, such as the Portable Medical Benefits Scheme, to reduce this duplication.

The PAP.SG Committee — the ruling party’s task force looking at ageing issues — also weighed in, saying now that MediShield Life is in place, the Government can consider its call for a tiered withdrawal scheme for Medisave. It also called on the Government to contain healthcare costs. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NEO CHAI CHIN

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