The Medical Endowment Fund (MediFund) provided a total of $164.1 million in assistance through more than 1.2 million successful applications to support needy Singaporeans for their medical bills in Financial Year (FY) 2021, i.e., for the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022.
2. MediFund is a safety net for needy Singaporean patients who are unable to afford their remaining medical bills, after government subsidies and drawing on other means of payment including MediShield Life and MediSave. MediFund Silver and MediFund Junior were introduced in 2007 and 2013 respectively to provide more targeted assistance for the elderly and children respectively. MediFund ensures that no Singaporean will be denied access to basic medical care due to inability to pay.
3. The amount of MediFund assistance in FY2021 was $7.2 million higher than the $156.9 million in FY2020. The increase in assistance was mainly due to an increased number of patient visits to the Public Healthcare Institutions (PHIs) with the easing of COVID-19 safe management measures in FY2021. The key statistics of MediFund assistance provided in FY2021 are:
(i) The number of approved MediFund applications was 1,236,587. This was a 7.4% increase from the 1,150,985 number of approved applications in FY2020, in tandem with a 5.7% increase in the total number of applications over the same period;
(ii) In PHIs, the total amount of assistance provided to patients was $128.6 million, compared to $120.3 million in FY2020;
(iii) In Intermediate and Long-Term Care facilities, the total amount of assistance provided to patients was $35.5 million, compared to $36.6 million in FY2020; and
(iv) On average, the amount of MediFund assistance provided was $912 per inpatient treatment, and $95 per outpatient treatment.
4. More details can be found in the Medical Endowment Scheme Annual Report 2021/2022.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
30 NOVEMBER 2022