SINGAPORE - Citizens whose net premiums go up after MediShield Life kicks in will get higher transitional subsidies than previously announced, which will help ease them into the scheme.
They will get a 90 per cent subsidy in the first year, and a 70 per cent subsidy in the second, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong in Parliament on Thursday.
This means that the maximum premium increase for all citizens who are fully covered by the present MediShield will be less than $3 a month in the first year.
Previously, Mr Gan had announced an 80 per cent and 60 per cent subsidy in the first two years of the scheme.
In Parliament, he said that the subsidy rates of 40 per cent and 20 per cent in the third and fourth years of the scheme would remain unchanged. In the fifth year, the transitional subsidies will be phased out altogether. However, lower- and middle-income households will continue to get permanent premium subsidies.
