Published by rhtlaw at November 11, 2015 RHTLaw Taylor Wessing’s Managing Partner Tan Chong Huat shared his views in this week’s topic in the Business Times’ weekly column, Views from the Top.
This article was first published in The Business Times on 9 November 2015.
Better health care for all
NOV 9, 2015 5:50 AM
THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: What are the hallmarks of a good healthcare system? How else, if at all, might Singapore's MediShield Life scheme be tweaked to ensure healthcare costs remain affordable for an ageing population?
Tan Chong Huat
Managing Partner
RHT Law Taylor Wessing LLP
A GOOD healthcare system delivers quality health services to all the people. Although Singapore's healthcare expenditure is lower than other developed countries', our system was ranked sixth by the World Health Organisation in 2000 and ranked the most efficient by Bloomberg in 2014. The challenge ahead is finding ways to keep healthcare costs affordable as our population ages.
In our insurance practice's view, there are three ways to do this. Firstly, we note that a majority of employers provide healthcare benefits which overlap with MediShield Life. The integration of the two types of plans will save unnecessary costs. Secondly, the inculcation of a healthy lifestyle is important as prevention is better (and cheaper) as opposed to a cure. Finally and perhaps the most difficult, managing the healthcare providers' costs in terms of unnecessary treatment, costly tests and expensive medicine. Inflated claims have always been the bane of the insurance industry.