Cost Savings from Removing Reward Milestones in National Steps Challenge for Clocking Daily Cumulative Steps

8 Mr Leong Mun Wai asked the Minister for Health (a) what are the estimated cost savings to the Government from removing the reward milestones in the National Steps Challenge for clocking 7,500 and 10,000 daily cumulative steps; and (b) how do the cost savings compare against the potential cost to the individual caused by a more sedentary lifestyle due to the removal of the reward milestones.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The Health Promotion Board (HPB) is spending more on promoting physical activity, by significantly expanding the number of physical activities in the community. It hopes to increase our activity outreach from 31,000 to 47,000 participants a week.

However, with greater outreach to benefit more people, HPB has to concurrently lower the maximum Healthpoints that an individual can earn in the National Steps Challenge, given the limit to our resources. Our experience is that whether participants are clocking 5,000, 7,500 or 10,000 steps a day, they are already inculcating a habit of staying active, with potentially minimal influence from Healthpoints.