Written Answer to Unanswered Oral Question

Establishing One-stop Default Authorisation for Singaporeans to Allow Verification by Medical Institutions

Speakers

Transcript

77 Ms Hany Soh asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health whether a default authorisation can be established for Singaporeans to allow medical institutions to verify their healthcare financing coverage, withdraw from their Medisave and claim from their insurance policies to settle medical expenses for both inpatient and outpatient treatments at public hospitals to eliminate having to complete the relevant Medical Claims Authorisation Forms.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: The requirement for patients to complete Medical Claims Authorisation Forms in order to use their MediSave or insurance policies exists to protect their MediSave monies and their data, as well as to provide flexibility to exercise personal choice.

There are two types of authorisation forms. Patients who wish to authorise their current and future treatments at all public healthcare institutions only need to complete the authorisation form for multiple institutions once. Those who prefer to provide authorisation at a specific institution across one or more episodes can use the form for single institution. The public healthcare institutions will prompt patients to sign the Medical Claims Authorisation Form during or after their visit.