Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim asked the Minister for Health whether there are any stipulations that a household already receiving financial support from MediFund for one family member is no longer eligible for such support for other family members.
The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Health): There are no stipulations that a patient cannot qualify for MediFund if any family member is already receiving MediFund support.
Mr Speaker: Assoc Prof Jamus Lim.
Assoc Prof Jamus Jerome Lim (Sengkang): Thank you for the response. Just a very quick follow-up. This was actually conveyed by a resident during my Meet-the-People session (MPS) and I understand that he may have been misinformed. But I am just wondering, is there any kind of threshold limits that MediFund typically considers in terms of the number of family members that can qualify for such support? Because I am thinking not in terms of just a spouse but perhaps other members of the family as well.
Ms Rahayu Mahzam: In respect of that, the Ministry of Health (MOH) provides operational guidelines to the MediFund committees and the MediFund Approved Institutions to facilitate their management of MediFund so that there is some sort of consistency in the decision-making. But actually, the MediFund committees have full discretion over the assessment of the applications.
In such situations, what they will do is assess the families’ means and ability to pay for the patient’s medical bills holistically. They will take into account the different income as well as other Government grants and support provided to the family. So, it is a holistic approach and I believe that is something that will be done on a case-by-case basis.
Ministry of Health
21 March 2023
https://sprs.parl.gov.sg/search/#/sprs3topic?reportid=oral-answer-3163
Office of the Leader of the Opposition 