Last Friday, MOH announced the confirmation of Medishield “enhancements” that they had proposed in a public consultation on Medishield changes in July 2012.
The changes will take place from March 2013.
Broadly, these are the changes:
The Good
a) Increase the coverage age from 85 to 90 years to ensure that our elderly remain insured as they live longer;
b) Extend coverage to inpatient psychiatric treatment at $100 per day up to 35 days per year for newly diagnosed conditions,
c) Extend coverage to short-stay wards in Emergency Departments;
d) Increase the policy year and lifetime limit from $50,000 to $70,000 and from $200,000 to $300,000 respectively to better cover members who face exceptionally large bills;
e) Increase the Medisave withdrawal limits for MediShield and Medisave-approved Integrated Shield Plans from $800 to $1,000 for those aged 76 to 80 and from $1,150 to $1,200 for those aged above 80;
f) Remove the MediShield maximum entry age of 75 to enable healthy uninsured elderly to obtain coverage.
The Bad
a) Increase of Class B2/C deductibles by $500 from $1,500/$1,000 to $2,000/$1,500 for those aged 80 and below;
b) A massive hike in Medishield premiums! This can range from 40% to 100% for those in the 1-80 age range.
Age Group / Current Annual Premium / Indicative Revised Premium
1 – 20 / 33 / 50
21 – 30 / 33 / 66
31 – 40 / 54 / 105
41 – 50 / 114 / 225
51 – 60 / 225 / 345
61 – 65 / 332 / 455
66 – 70 / 372 / 540
71 – 73 / 390 / 560
74 – 75 / 462 / 646
76 – 78 / 524 / 775
79 – 80 / 615 / 865
81 – 83 / 1,087 / 1,123
84 – 85 / 1,123 / 1,150
86 – 90 (new category) / – / 1,190
Even though there will be an one-off Medisave topup, the topup is once but the increase will affect us year after year.
As a result of these changes, it is very likely that the various private medical shield plans (eg incomeshield, myshield) will have to increase their premiums.
The extension of coverage to congenital and neonatal conditions will not be part of these Medishield changes, but will be considered as part of a broader review on supporting healthcare costs for children.
The press release of the changes can be found here:
MOH on Medishield Changes (Oct 2012)
