Health care financing in Singapore

Abstract

The current issue of rising health care costs, which has been subject to much

debate in Singapore, prompted our investigation into the economics of the various

health care financing schemes and to assess their effectiveness and efficiency.

This report shows that Medisave has achieved its primary role of helping the

majority of Singaporeans to pay for their basic health care expenses. MediShield has

also largely been successful in providing a low-cost public insurance to cover

Singaporeans. With the inadequacy of the present system to curb the escalation of

health costs, Managed Health Care has been encouraged by the government as an

alternative. We see that Managed Health Care, in providing total health care for a

reasonable prepaid annual fee and with its unique features, holds much promise.

This report put forward with some suggestions to enhance and fine-tune our

various health care financing schemes in order to make health care more affordable to

the average Singaporean.

The project has been a fruitful and eventful experience to us. We sincerely hope

that the discussion would help readers in understanding the uniqueness of our health

care market.