31-12-2023, 09:06 AM
By Gregg Girvan, Grant Rigney, and Avik Roy.
Singapore: #10 in the 2022 World Index of Healthcare Innovation
Singapore ranks 10th in the 2022 World Index of Health Care Innovation, up from 12th in 2021 and down from 7th in 2020. Singapore’s overall performance was driven by high scores for Choice (12th) as well as strong research universities and top-notch digital health care.
Singapore’s fiscal performance, however, sits around the median, ranking 16th for Fiscal Sustainability due in part to politically-driven “top-ups” in public health care spending.
While the overall cost of health care in Singapore remains remarkably low, its edge over the rest of the industrialized world is shrinking.
The Singaporean health care system does not fit neatly into Western categories like single-payer or universal private insurance.
Instead, compared to the U.S. system, Singaporean health care leans both further to the left and further to the right. To the left, it features a single-payer program for catastrophic insurance, called Medishield. But, to the right, it offers patients a system of universal Health Savings Accounts, known as Medisave.
These accounts allow Singaporeans to shop for the everyday care they need without resorting to a third-party payer.
In a manner somewhat like the U.S. Social Security system, Singapore takes mandatory deductions from workers’ paychecks — around 20 percent of wages — and deposits a portion of them into health savings accounts called Medisave.
In 2021, Medisave contributions were capped at $7,560, although additional voluntary contributions can be made yearly. Medisave accounts are used mostly for inpatient expenses, but also some outpatient ones.
Singaporeans are expected to pay most of their outpatient expenses with non-Medisave cash.
This HSA-based system encourages providers to compete on price and value. In addition, it rewards Singaporeans for looking after their own health and for not overutilizing the health care system.
Notably, prescription drug pricing is unregulated. Drugs on a standard list maintained by the Ministry of Health are subsidized; drugs off the list are unsubsidized and obtainable via out-of-pocket spending.
This gives Singaporeans complete freedom of choice, while still keeping costs in check.
Singapore: #10 in the 2022 World Index of Healthcare Innovation
Singapore ranks 10th in the 2022 World Index of Health Care Innovation, up from 12th in 2021 and down from 7th in 2020. Singapore’s overall performance was driven by high scores for Choice (12th) as well as strong research universities and top-notch digital health care.
Singapore’s fiscal performance, however, sits around the median, ranking 16th for Fiscal Sustainability due in part to politically-driven “top-ups” in public health care spending.
While the overall cost of health care in Singapore remains remarkably low, its edge over the rest of the industrialized world is shrinking.
The Singaporean health care system does not fit neatly into Western categories like single-payer or universal private insurance.
Instead, compared to the U.S. system, Singaporean health care leans both further to the left and further to the right. To the left, it features a single-payer program for catastrophic insurance, called Medishield. But, to the right, it offers patients a system of universal Health Savings Accounts, known as Medisave.
These accounts allow Singaporeans to shop for the everyday care they need without resorting to a third-party payer.
In a manner somewhat like the U.S. Social Security system, Singapore takes mandatory deductions from workers’ paychecks — around 20 percent of wages — and deposits a portion of them into health savings accounts called Medisave.
In 2021, Medisave contributions were capped at $7,560, although additional voluntary contributions can be made yearly. Medisave accounts are used mostly for inpatient expenses, but also some outpatient ones.
Singaporeans are expected to pay most of their outpatient expenses with non-Medisave cash.
This HSA-based system encourages providers to compete on price and value. In addition, it rewards Singaporeans for looking after their own health and for not overutilizing the health care system.
Notably, prescription drug pricing is unregulated. Drugs on a standard list maintained by the Ministry of Health are subsidized; drugs off the list are unsubsidized and obtainable via out-of-pocket spending.
This gives Singaporeans complete freedom of choice, while still keeping costs in check.