The government has been very busy the past few days, announcing a spate of measures to help children and parents with their healthcare and various other costs.
Needy kids get more help with healthcare costs (MOH)
Raising and caring for your children (MOH)
Enhance Child and Infant Care Subsidies for Lower and Middle Income Families (MSF)
Marriage and Parenthood Package (MOM)
Some of these changes include:
- MediShield coverage will be extended to include congenital and neonatal conditions. With this extension, Singaporean newborns born on or after 1 Mar 2013 will be covered by MediShield from birth, without having to be assessed for pre-existing conditions.
- To help families cover the cost of MediShield premiums for their newborns, the Government will deposit a one-off grant of $3,000 into the Medisave accounts of all newborn citizens born on or after 26 Aug 2012.
- To allow the use of Medisave for Assisted Conception Procedures (ACP)
- 1 week of paid paternity leave and extension of childcare leave
These kind of measures are usually announced during the Budget sessions; I guess we all know the reason why they were announced this week. 😉