News analysis

MOH should play bigger role in regulating private health insurance need

Patients at a payment counter at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on March 12, 2021. Patients can cap their payments at $3,000 a year if they get treated by any of the more than 3,800 specialists in the public sector. ST PHOTO: YONG LI XUAN
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SINGAPORE - The recent spat between the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) and the Life Insurance Association (LIA) Singapore has raised issues that directly affect policyholders and patients.

It started with a position paper by SMA criticising the seven insurers that offer Integrated Shield Plans (IPs) over the composition, size, and even the very existence, of their panels of approved doctors.

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