Singapore has just decided to allow bipolar patients to tap into their Medisave accounts in order to cover the costs of bipolar outpatient care. The Medisave program is a medical savings account in which Singaporeans are required to contribute between 6.5 to 9 percent of their income into a savings account, and then they can withdraw these funds for approved expenses. For the most part, these expenses have been limited to hospital care, but did include some outpatient services as well, such as chemotherapy. These latest changes allow Singaporeans to withdraw funds for outpatient bipolar care (as well as dementia). More coverage of the changes can be found on the site Asia One.
Commentary
It is worth noting that this will not cover all medical costs associated with outpatient care. Medisave withdrawals for chronic care is still limited to $400 per year, which may be insufficient in many cases, but will still provide some help. Part of what is so interesting about Medisave is how the system works, which is very different from what Canadians, especially, might be used to. Singapore has a comprehensive social security system called the “Central Provident Fund”, which covers retirement, health care and even home ownership. It functions more like unemployment insurance than like a typical state-funded health care program. Often, such programs don’t handle chronic illness very well, because chronic anything and insurance programs don’t interact very well. That Singapore is extending its chronic care coverage, then, shows that they are trying to extend the capacity of such a system.
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