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Sitecore Context Id: 3ab59be6-6d9d-4f77-a722-63203795aad3;
Introduction
Mr Speaker, I rise in support of the Bill, which seeks to implement the recommendations made by the CareShield Life Council, ensure that premiums remain affordable, and to improve administration of the CareShield scheme.
Sir, the CareShield Life scheme is an important assurance for many Singaporeans, as it provides those who cannot perform three or more Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) with lifelong protection for their long-term care needs. This gives Singaporeans an important safety net, where long-term care will remain accessible and affordable, regardless of their pre-existing conditions.
My speech today will touch on how we can better enhance these two key aspects of CareShield Life – accessibility and affordability.
Allow early access for Singaporeans who suffer severe disabilities before 30
Sir, the minimum age for CareShield life enrolment is when the policyholder turns 30 years of age. While I can understand every policy needs a cut-off age, I would like to ask what were the policy considerations behind limiting CareShield Life coverage to those aged 30 years or older.
Would the Minister be able to share statistics of Singaporean adults between 21 to 29 years of age, who have severe disabilities and are unable to perform at least three or more ADLs. Does this statistic differ greatly for the age group of adults between the ages of 30 to 39?
Sir, I would like to highlight the plight of my Radin Mas resident.
Mr Ong has a 17-year-old son who suffered an unfortunate brain injury and is unable to engage in many activities of daily living. Mr Ong must therefore expend significant resources to ensure that his son is well cared for. Under the current scheme, Mr Ong’s son would only be able to enrol into CareShield Life when he turns 30.
I had written to the MOH to highlight the plight of Mr Ong, and I understand from my resident that he was referred to support measures by the Agency for Integrated Care and ComCare, as his son does not meet the minimum age for CareShield Life enrolment.
Sir, while I appreciate MOH’s assistance to the resident, the support provided by AIC and ComCare to Mr Ong are general schemes that would also apply to CareShield Life policyholders who are above the age of 30.
While such situations may be rare, I am certain that it is by no means unique. Others like Mr Ong and his son would benefit from an expansion to the accessibility of the CareShield Life scheme, by lowering the minimum age of enrolment.
Given the automatic enrolment nature of the CareShield Life scheme, I propose that we should have parity with other national insurance schemes that provide automatic insurance coverage. There should be parity with the CPF Board’s Dependants’ Protection Scheme (DPS), where automatic insurance coverage in the event of death, terminal illness, or total disabilities, is extended to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents above the age of 21, with an option for manual application for those aged 16 and above.
While DPS and CareShield Life serve different purposes, the minimum age for coverage for debilitating injuries should be harmonised.
I therefore urge the MOH to consider expanding CareShield Life coverage to all adults from 21 years of age, with an option for manual application for those aged 16 and above.
We already have existing systems in place for family members to use their Medisave to pay for the CareShield Life premiums for other family members. This can be extended to the younger cohort of policyholders that I am proposing for them to be covered by CareShield Life.
The various premium support measures by the Government for lower-income families can also be extended to policyholders below the age of 30, thereby ensuring minimum financial burden.
Expanding CareShield Life coverage to more adults could also have the additional advantage of lowering overall risk, helping therefore to keep premiums affordable for everyone.
Importance of ensuring high consumer awareness about insurance
Sir let me now touch on enhancing affordability of our long-term care needs.
Sir, I support the proposal to double the CareShield Life payout growth rate. This is vital to ensuring that CareShield Life payouts continue to defray a meaningful proportion of long-term care costs and keep bills affordable for more Singaporeans.
This is especially important as Singapore becomes a super-aged society, and our healthcare expenses continue to increase.
Singaporeans should not just rely on CareShield Life. Indeed, many consumers already have private insurance policies to provide additional coverage in the event of a health incident that results in severe disability.
Despite this, insurance literacy in Singapore remains low. It is common to read in the media about consumers frequently being both underinsured – where policyholders do not have adequate insurance coverage – and overinsured – where policyholders have duplicate policies and excessive coverage amounts.
Both situations of being underinsured and overinsured are not ideal, as it leads to policyholders paying more and increasing their financial burden over time. But it can be hard for consumers to cut through the noise when it comes to insurance.
In fact, the CPF Board has an entire toolkit, called the Health Insurance Planner, to try and help policyholders cut through, and I quote, “sheer volume of conflicting advice that makes it hard to know what to trust”, end quote.
We must do more to improve insurance literacy and help consumers save on their healthcare bills. I therefore urge the MOH to work closely with the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE), to study insurance literacy in Singapore, and to work on improving consumer knowledge about how to best safeguard themselves against sudden, unintended, healthcare expenses.
Conclusion
In closing, the amendments proposed under the Bill are timely, as it will help ensure that CareShield Life payouts continue to defray a sizable proportion of healthcare costs for those who suffer severe disabilities. I urge MOH to expand the minimum age of enrolment for the scheme, to help young adults with disabilities, and to improve insurance literacy among consumers.
Mr Speaker, I support the Bill.
