SINGAPORE — With three children still in school — and a fourth serving National Service — and their grandmother to care for, the Government’s subsidies to help pay for the increased MediShield Life premiums will come in handy for Madam Lim Siu Hong, an examination lecturer, and her engineer husband.

Mdm Lim, 50, lives in a five-room Housing and Development Board flat in Little India, and premiums for her household of seven — supported by Mdm Lim and her husband’s combined monthly income of about S$10,000 — currently cost about S$2,222 or S$185 per month.

With premiums set to go up when the new MediShield Life scheme takes effect next year, they will pay S$1,798 with first-year subsidies, shows the MediShield Life online calculator on the Ministry of Health’s website.

This will increase over the years as the transitional subsidies provided by the Government for the first four years are scaled down. The calculator shows the family will pay S$1,969 in the second year, S$2,116 in the third year, S$2,313 in the fourth and S$2,517 in the fifth.

The calculations do not take into account the fact that Mdm Lim’s mother-in-law, who is in her 90s, may have to pay an additional 30 per cent in premiums because she has a pre-existing condition: A stroke.

The lower premiums with the additional benefits are good news, said Mdm Lim, adding that the scheme is likely to matter more to younger generations such as her children since “they have a long way ahead of them”.

While subsidies for the Pioneer Generation and Medisave top-ups under the Pioneer Generation Package will significantly help with the premiums for her mother-in-law, who was previously insured, premiums for the rest of the family will increase. However, Mdm Lim is unfazed.

“It’s a very manageable increase and we should be fine. The benefits in the long term certainly outweigh the initial costs,” she said.