• Spending overview
• Policy overview
• Diseases overview

Spending overview

Spending on healthcare in Singapore is relatively low as a percentage of GDP: at an estimated 4.1% in 2009, it is below the average in the Asia and Australasia region. Healthcare spending by the public sector currently stands at around 0.9% of GDP, with most spending by the private sector coming through savings and insurance funds run by the government. Direct government spending on healthcare has risen in recent years. In 2008/09 it was equivalent to around 1.1% of GDP and 7.1% of the total public expenditure budget.

At the onset of the 2009 economic recession the government sharply increased the 2009/10 budget allocation for the health ministry, raising it to S$3.7bn. This will be disbursed as grants to hospitals and other public healthcare institutions, made available to hospitals to recruit and train more healthcare professionals and fund part of the five-year plan to expand the country's healthcare capacity, which includes building new general and community hospitals and enhancing technology. Demand for care for the elderly is expected to increase steadily, and the government is aware of the need to ensure that Singaporeans are financially prepared for old age.

Policy overview

The government's healthcare policy is largely defined as one that encourages self-reliance, keeps healthcare affordable and involves community-based facilities. The private sector accounts for over 75% of all primary healthcare services, with government primary-health clinics accounting for the remaining share. The government subsidises 50% of the treatment cost at public-sector clinics. Expensive medical treatments, including non-essential cosmetic treatments, are not available in public hospitals.

There are three major government-operated healthcare financing schemes, known as the 3Ms: Medisave, a national savings scheme, Medishield, a low-cost insurance scheme and Medifund, a government-financed endowment fund. The health ministry admits that the practices followed in the healthcare system, although good, are not “the very best”, and that expensive or experimental treatments are excluded from public provision. However, it is clear that public expectations of the quality of healthcare are likely to rise and that increased government spending will be necessary.

Building on the world-class reputation of Singapore’s health services, bolstered by its growing clinical research and biomedical industries, the government is promoting the local healthcare industry as a regional centre of medical excellence. It is also keen to promote not only general surgery and medicine but also specialist services, including organ transplants and cardiology, strategies for which were set out in proposals published by the healthcare subcommittee of the Economic Review Committee in 2002. However, the global economic slowdown is likely to have resulted in a drop in the number of foreign patients seeking treatment in the country.

Diseases overview

Despite the relatively low level of spending on healthcare in Singapore, the island state's health indicators are good. Average life expectancy at birth was 81.9 years in 2008 This compares favourably the US, Germany, Malaysia and Thailand. The rate of infant mortality stood at 2.3 per 1,000 live births in 2008, down from 3 per 1,000 in 2000.

Singapore struggled alongside many other countries worldwide in coping with outbreaks of influenza A(H1N1), often known as swine flu, in 2009, but by early 2010 concerns over the potential threat from the virus had diminished. However. The country will remain vulnerable to highly contagious viruses owing to its position as a regional business and tourism hub. Aside from the influenza threat, Singapore in general has a developed-country profile for disease, with cancer, cardiovascular diseases and strokes accounting for over 60% of deaths, according to the health ministry. Despite government health campaigns, there is no reason to believe that Singapore’s disease profile will change significantly in the forecast period, although problems associated with obesity are expected to increase.