SINGAPORE — Younger Singaporeans from low-income households will be eligible for subsidised outpatient medical treatment at selected general practitioners and dental clinics, with the removal of the age floor in the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS).

The Government will also increase subsidies for lower- and middle-income patients who need to visit Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOCs) and study more outpatient treatment uses for Medisave — which will mean higher Medisave contribution rates, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

The Health Ministry is expected to elaborate on the announcements Mr Lee made at the National Day Rally yesterday.

CHAS is currently only available to Singaporeans aged 40 and above with a per capita household monthly income of S$1,500 and below. Some 300,000 Singaporeans are currently on the scheme.

With the system “working nicely”, Mr Lee said “we can remove this flaw (the age floor) and younger Singaporeans will also be able to join the CHAS scheme”.

He gave the example of Mr Tay Siew Mow, a 59-year-old suffering from high blood pressure, an illness which requires the patient to be medicated for the rest of his life. Mr Tay gets an S$80 subsidy with his blue CHAS card — which is for households with a per capital income of S$900 and below — each time he visits his GP.

His father, sister and wife are also CHAS cardholders, but his two teenage children are not. Removing the age floor for CHAS “will diminish his worries about his family’s healthcare costs”, said Mr Lee.

The increased subsidies for those who need to visit SOCs — currently set at 50 per cent of treatment costs — will also come as a relief for the low-income, for whom the subsidised rates “may still add up to an expense”, said Mr Lee. “I think this is quite a big thing. Many people have expressed their concerns to me over the SOC charges. This will make a difference to them,” he said.

These additional subsidies will be means-tested “so that we know we can target them for the people who need them”, he added.

He also noted that many have made the call to expand the use of Medisave, which currently can only be used for hospitalisation, day surgery and certain outpatient expenses.

Mr Lee said: “I think they are right, we should do this ... We’ve already taken some steps there. You can use it for chemotherapy, you can use it for major outpatient operations ... But I think you can extend it further and especially for old people you can extend it further. We’ll be studying carefully how to do this.”

Mr Lee said that with the Government spending more on healthcare and subsidies, Singaporeans must also save “enough to pay for (their) share” and Medisave rates have to go up.

“We will increase these contribution rates over time as and when our economic conditions permit. How much, we’ll have to discuss carefully but the direction is quite clear,” he said.