Deductible for enhanced MediShield plans to be cut

Jan 22, 2007

Deductible for enhanced MediShield plans to be cut

Private patients can expect higher payouts, with raised premiums

By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent

PATIENTS going to A-class wards or private hospitals can expect higher payouts from insurance.

Changes to MediShield - expected in the second half of this year - will come with a cut in the initial amount those covered under enhanced MediShield plans for A-class wards need to pay.

This amount, called the deductible, is likely to revert to $2,500, the previous amount before it was upped to the current $3,000 in 2005.

To make lower deductibles - and higher payouts - possible, premiums can be expected to go up.

The minimum deductible, which is charged on a yearly basis and not on each hospital visit, is set by the Ministry of Health (MOH) for insurance bought using Medisave money.

It varies with the ward classes the various MediShield schemes are pegged to. For example, patients under the basic MediShield schemes pegged to the highly-subsidised C-class ward pay $1,000 before insurance kicks in for the year.

An individual who is hospitalised three times in the same year, running up a $1,000 bill each time, will have insurance kick in by the second hospitalisation.

Deductibles are based on the amount run up in medical bills over each year a patient is under cover.

Insurers can impose higher deductibles, and some do so.

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