All pensioners with Comprehensive Co-payment Scheme (CCS) medical benefits pay only 15 per cent of their total hospital bills.

But, if they want to make any claim from MediShield Life, they must pay the pre-claim amount of $2,000 first in cash or have it deducted from their Medisave account.

With the new healthcare scheme ("MediShield Life coverage to kick in at midnight"; Oct 31), pensioners with CCS medical benefits may feel this new scheme is unfair and not suitable for them.

For instance, if their hospital bill is $13,000, they will still be unable to make any claim from MediShield Life as the payable amount is only $1,950.

On behalf of pensioners who currently enjoy CCS medical benefits, I sincerely hope the Ministry of Health will consider lowering the pre-claim amount to $1,000, to help low-income pensioners cope with expensive medical bills and to also give them a chance to make claims on smaller bills.

Tan Kwong Moh