MediFund gave over $165m in assistance to needy Singaporeans in last financial year
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MediFund helps needy Singaporean patients who are unable to afford their medical bills after government subsidies and insurance and MediSave deductions.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
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SINGAPORE – A total of $165.1 million from the Medical Endowment Fund (MediFund) was dispensed to help needy Singaporeans with their medical bills in the last financial year (FY), which ended on March 31.
This was $9.1 million, or 5.8 per cent, more than the amount disbursed in the preceding financial year.
It also marks the first increase in annual MediFund assistance after the last three years, where the amount disbursed decreased from $164.1 million in FY2021 to $156.3 million in FY2022 and $156 million in FY2023.
MediFund helps needy Singaporean patients who are unable to afford their medical bills after government subsidies and insurance and MediSave deductions.
The increase in MediFund assistance disbursed was fuelled by an increase in the help given to patients in both public healthcare institutions (PHIs) and intermediate and long-term care (ILTC) facilities.
The total amount of assistance provided to patients in PHIs, such as public hospitals and polyclinics, was $119 million, $1 million more than in the preceding year. This was also the first increase after the last three years.
The assistance given to patients in ILTC facilities, such as community hospitals and nursing homes, continued its upward trend over the past three years, reaching a total of $46 million. This was a 21.4 per cent increase from the preceding year.
MediFund has been enhanced over the years.
For example, MediFund Silver and MediFund Junior were introduced in 2007 and 2013 respectively to provide more targeted assistance for the elderly and children from needy families.
Based on the MediFund annual report on the Ministry of Health’s website, there were a total of 1,100,797 successful applications for MediFund (including MediFund Junior) and MediFund Silver, 0.4 per cent more than in the preceding financial year.
The ministry said in its Nov 28 announcement: “With MediFund, no Singaporean would be denied access to appropriate, subsidised care due to an inability to pay.”
