In a press release yesterday (Nov 7), the Ministry of Health indicated that the government will be increasing Medishield insurance premiums by end-2020, after the General Elections:
“No premium adjustments have been made (this time), but a review of premiums will be conducted by end-2020. We will take into account actual claims experience and healthcare cost inflation as well as possible future enhancements.”
In 2017, the Singapore government made S$1.8 billion in revenue from premiums collection under the MediShield Life scheme, but paid out only 44% of it. The remaining 56%, which should be correctly termed as “profits”, were renamed as “required reserves” to cover up the profitable nature of MediShield Life.
The greedy Lee Hsien Loong dictatorship rewrote the laws in 2016 to inflate the mandatory required reserves (a risk-based calculation to justify the excess amount in premium collection) in an attempt to justify the MediShield Life scheme’s excessive collection in premiums. It is estimated that the current premium rates are overpriced by at least 25%, based off the pre-2016 standards, as the government overstretched variables like dread disease rate by 40%, in their new formula calculation.
After announcing the impending premium increase, Ministry of Health was quick to add a propaganda message saying that the government is always there to help Singaporeans:
“Any patient who cannot afford their bills after subsidies, MediShield Life and MediSave, can apply for MediFund. No Singaporean will be denied appropriate healthcare due to the inability to pay.”
The MediFund however requires a Singaporean and his immediate family members to exhaust their savings, to the point of selling their HDB apartment, in order to qualify. The Ministry of Health do not declare the eligibility criteria for MediFund, and claimed that they approve on a case by case basis “holistically”.