Income Criteria for Blue and Orange CHAS Cards in View of Inflation

15 Mr Ang Wei Neng asked the Minister for Health (a) whether the income criteria for the blue and orange Community Health Assistance Scheme (CHAS) card will be raised in view of the recent inflation; (b) how many households have appealed for blue and orange CHAS cards for the past two years and of which, how many appeals have been rejected due to the household monthly income per person criteria; and (c) whether CHAS subsidies will be reviewed due to the recent high medical inflation.

The Senior Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health (Ms Rahayu Mahzam) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Health (MOH) regularly reviews the income criteria and subsidy levels for our healthcare subsidy schemes. Both the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) subsidy levels and income criteria were last reviewed in 2019. From early next year, CHAS cardholders can benefit from the Healthier SG Chronic Tier, if they enrol with a Healthier SG general practitioner (GP) clinic.

In the last two years, MOH has received around 14,000 appeals for changes of CHAS card status. Three in four managed to upgrade their cards. MOH considers all appeals on a case-by-case basis to review applicants’ means and circumstances, beyond just applying eligibility criteria of per capita household income or the annual value of their homes.

Mr Speaker: Mr Ang Wei Neng.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast): Thank you, Speaker, and also, thank you to the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the comprehensive reply. I have three supplementary questions. First, we understand that MOH last reviewed the income criteria in 2019, which was pre-COVID-19, and inflation was still low. But in the past three years, the headline inflation and core inflation have hit 5%. So, will MOH consider incorporating an inflation index or a wage index in the income criteria so that it will always move with the time when determining the income criteria for the various CHAS cards?

The second supplementary question is, of the 14,000 appeals for card upgrades that MOH received, how many were successful?

The last supplementary question is, would MOH consider incorporating an inflation index into the amount of subsidies that each CHAS card would give to the residents, so that again, it would always move in tandem with inflation, and you would not have to review every three or four years?

Ms Rahayu Mahzam: I thank the Member for the questions. I appreciate his concerns in this matter. I had mentioned earlier that three in four of the appeals are successful. That is quite a large number. We do look into the specific circumstances on a case-by-case basis.

As to the suggestion, as I mentioned, we do regularly review the income criteria. It is a constant practice. We note that things have evolved and changed, post pandemic. And so, we will take into account the suggestions and the inputs that the Member has given in our constant review in this matter. We do look at it holistically, including the circumstances of the matter and the inflation index in our assessment of the review.