Over $164m given to needy Singaporeans to pay medical bills
The Medical Endowment Fund (MediFund) provided more than $164 million to needy Singaporeans to help them pay medical bills in financial year (FY) 2021, $7.2 million more than the financial year before.
MediFund helps needy Singaporean patients who are unable to afford their medical bills after government subsidies, and insurance and MediSave deductions.
In FY 2021 – between April 2021 and March 2022 – there were more than 1.2 million successful applications, a 7.4 per cent growth from the 1.15 million in FY 2020.
The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that the increase in assistance, up from $156.9 million in FY 2020, was mainly due to a higher number of patient visits to public health institutions with the easing of Covid-19 safe management measures.
Most of the financial assistance was provided to patients in public health institutions, accounting for $128.6 million of the total amount given out. This is up from $120.3 million during FY 2020.
The remaining $35.5 million was provided to patients in intermediate and long-term care facilities. This is a decrease from $36.6 million in the financial year before.
MOH said the amount of MediFund assistance provided on average was $912 per inpatient treatment and $95 per outpatient treatment.
The fund was set up in 1993 while MediFund Silver and MediFund Junior, for the elderly and children respectively, were introduced in 2007 and 2013 to provide more targeted assistance.
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