KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 22 — Singapore is now offering discounts on national health insurance scheme premiums for those who take brisk walks every day to incentivise an active lifestyle.
Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung posted on Facebook that since last Thursday, Singaporeans aged 40 and above will get SG$70 (RM229.50) off their annual MediShield Life premiums by taking a brisk 20-minute walk daily.
They can use Healthpoints from the Healthy 365 app to get discounts on MediShield Life premiums. For every 150 Healthpoints, they get SG$2 (RM6.60) off – double the usual conversion rate.
This pilot initiative by Singapore’s Ministry of Health is part of the ministry’s Healthier SG programme that focuses on preventive health to prevent the onset of chronic diseases.
“Taking steps to adopt a healthier lifestyle is something that all of us can choose to do. And when we look after our health, we are less likely to need expensive medical treatment later,” said Ong.
MediShield Life is Singapore’s national health insurance scheme that helps to pay for large hospital bills and selected costly outpatient treatments, such as dialysis and chemotherapy for cancer.
Singapore citizens and permanent residents are automatically covered by MediShield Life. The government offers various subsidies for the payment of premiums, including for the lower to middle income groups and elderly people.
Separately, Channel News Asia (CNA) reported Ong as saying Saturday that public hospitals in Singapore would restructure care teams so that patients with multiple health problems would only need to see one “principal doctor”, instead of seeing various specialists.
The principal doctor may either be a specialist who has retained broad-based competencies or a hospital clinician who has been trained with such broad-based competencies, CNA reported.
“Now, we need to consciously train clinicians to acquire broad-based competencies, as a career pathway distinct from being a specialist,” Ong was quoted as saying.
