Plans for Improving and Streamlining Community Health Assist Scheme

13 Mr Liang Eng Hwa asked the Minister for Health (a) how many Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) cardholders are there currently; (b) what is the breakdown of this figure according to the number of CHAS Blue and CHAS Orange cardholders respectively; (c) what are the common kinds of feedback received on the Scheme; and (d) whether the Ministry has plans to further improve and streamline the Scheme.

The Minister of State for Health (Dr Lam Pin Min) (for the Minister for Health): Mdm Speaker, there are 1.4 million Singaporeans on the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) currently. This includes about 400,000 Pioneers who receive special subsidies under CHAS. Excluding Pioneers, there are 600,000 and 400,000 Blue and Orange cardholders respectively.

Usual feedback on CHAS includes eligibility assessment, level and coverage of subsidies, application and renewal process, as well as charges at CHAS clinics.

The Ministry values the feedback provided. We take them into consideration in our periodic reviews of the design and implementation of the scheme, as well as guidelines and advice given to the CHAS clinics. For example, in 2014, we removed the age criterion for CHAS, which allowed all Singaporeans of eligible households, regardless of age, to benefit from the scheme. We streamlined the application process, as well as claims submission process. The Ministry will review CHAS regularly to ensure that the scheme continues to meet the objective of providing Singaporeans with access to affordable and quality primary care in the community.

Mr Liang Eng Hwa (Holland-Bukit Timah): Thank you, Madam. I promised my resident that I would raise this. So, I have to convey this unhappy feedback, mostly from the Orange cardholders. The unhappy part about it is the $1,100 monthly household income cut-off criterion per person is too low to qualify for the Blue card. I would like to ask whether the Ministry would look at reviewing this threshold, given that medical expenses have gone up and whether there is any plan to merge the Blue and Orange cards.

Given that the Orange card is so unpopular and not so appreciated, maybe we should just move more to the Blue card. That will also take some of the patient load off the polyclinics because there are still a lot of people going to the polyclinics as it is a lot cheaper. If we can expand this group, that is, to have more getting the Blue card, that would probably improve the well-being of everyone and also ease the workload at the polyclinics.

Dr Lam Pin Min: I would like to thank the Member for his suggestions. In fact, I myself face certain suggestions and pressures from my own residents, too. Like I mentioned in my reply, MOH takes feedback from patients, Singaporeans and also from GPs on the scheme. In my previous reply, I mentioned some of the enhancements over the past years. I promise the Member that MOH will regularly review the subsidy quantum, as well as the scope of coverage of CHAS, including the eligibility criteria in the years to come.

Mr Cedric Foo Chee Keng (Pioneer): From the number of CHAS cards issued, what percentage of our population is covered?

Dr Lam Pin Min: The Blue CHAS covers up to the 30th percentile, whereas the Orange covers from the 31st up to the 50th percentile.