What keeps me up at night? (Beyond insomnia ??) That our children and our grandchildren will not be able to benefit from a healthcare system as good as the one we have today, because we don’t have the fiscal and manpower resources to sustain it. No matter how we design and redesign our policies, all of us as taxpayers and citizens pay. We pay by taxes, we pay by insurance premiums, or we pay by cash. Healthcare costs are rising because: 1?? We have more old people, all of whom need more healthcare as their bodies become weaker with age. 2?? People across all ages now use more healthcare than before. Some of this is because we are more aware of health conditions and services available, but a large part is due to more young people having chronic conditions brought about by lifestyle and bad habits. 3?? Global supplies and manpower costs are rising, and Singapore is a price taker. Skilled healthcare manpower is a scarce global resource, and the competition for them is intense (which is another headache for another part of my job ??) 4?? Technological advancements in healthcare add costs but do not always add value. There’s now a drug or an implant or procedure for many conditions that our ancestors could only use painkillers to deal with in the past. But not all are clinically and cost effective. We recently announced enhancements to our national basic health insurance MediShield Life. Higher claim limits and extension of coverage to some outpatient treatments and home care eg Home Ventilation and Respiratory Support Service, and also cell and gene therapies. The enhancements are needed, to protect Singaporeans from rising healthcare costs. Premiums will go up, but we worked hard to put together a $4.1b support package with our Ministry of Finance (Singapore). It’s been more than a year of hard work on this and I am deeply appreciative of our healthcare financing team in Ministry of Health (Singapore) and our MediShield Life Council for this major round of review. This CNA insider video gives a good background to healthcare costs in Singapore, worth a watch. A few of us including Daphne Khoo Soo Min Wong Jeremy Lim and myself had some cameos. Lydia Loh Navanetharaja Gopala Krishnan Jeremy Auw Wei Lin Lai Ching Yee Tan Rahayu Mahzam Sarah Leong Cristelle C. Yeow Chan Margaret Lee Yee Juan Lim Tim Oei Francesca Lim Joey Zhou Kai Hong Phua Hwee-Lin Wee Wee Joo Chng Ai Lian Fang Theng Fong Hee Soo Hoon Hauw-Quek Shekaran Krishnan Sazali Zainal Suraj Kumar Agency for Care Effectiveness (ACE) National University Health System SingHealth National Healthcare Group https://lnkd.in/gpk78syz
Why Are Healthcare Costs Rising In Singapore – Is There Really Nothing We Can Do About It?
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Thanks for the insightful post. Addressing rising healthcare costs requires a multi-faceted approach. Individual actions like using national subsidies like CHAS and optimized insurance (Including EB) can help (chronic patients). However, systemic changes such as prioritizing preventive care, value-based care, digital health, and international collaboration are crucial for long-term sustainability.
I think there are some wastes in the system we can cut But beyond that healthcare costs will continue to rise unless we have technology that focuses on reducing costs (frugal innovation) rather than improving quality
Jasmin Lau , all the points made are highly relevant! On our part as Hospital architects and planners working on at least 2 Future Large hospitals like Bedok Eastern General and CGH remodelling , we are ensuring that the planning of spaces and their engineering design keeps the OpEx low and the spaces are flexibly designed with optimal Cap Ex, would love to know your views on how infra cost is factored in your policy decisions and how consultants working on future major acute hospitals should approach this ! Thank you
Soo Hoon Hauw-Quek
3 个月
I agree
Su-Yen Wong, FSID
3 个月
Very real dilemmas and trade-offs that hopefully we as Singaporeans can appreciate.
Jasmin Lau Thanks for sharing this. For us in healthcare, it’s very important to fully understand the nuances of the healthcare system in #Singapore Daphne Khoo Soo Min Wong Jeremy Lim
Civil servant in MOF
3 个月There is only ONE way to pay for healthcare - us! Only issue is who (user or taxpayer or other insured persons) and when (now or later - we can then add future taxpayers). So we need to keep the total cost down and decide what is a reasonable way to share it among OURSELVES.