IP rider changes meant to address growing shift from private to public healthcare: Ong Ye Kung

SINGAPORE: Singapore is implementing changes to Integrated Shield Plan (IP) riders to stem a growing exodus of patients from private to subsidised healthcare, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

Speaking to journalists on Sunday (Dec 14), Mr Ong addressed feedback about the new measures announced in November.

In private healthcare, hospital bills and insurance premiums are increasing fast, said Mr Ong, noting that about 100,000 people give up their private hospital IP riders each year.

“They find that they can't afford the premiums anymore, so they either cancel their IP riders or downgrade. And these 100,000 people will potentially shift over to subsidised public healthcare. So it is something that's already happening and may be happening at an increasing pace,” he added.

“We need to address this, which is why we are introducing this policy to moderate private healthcare cost escalation and premium escalation, hopefully persuade people to downgrade their rider into something more affordable … and maybe they can hold on to it and stay with private healthcare.”

From Apr 1, 2026, new riders will no longer be allowed to cover the minimum plan deductibles, as part of measures to address rising private healthcare costs.

Currently, policyholders with riders must co-pay at least 5 per cent of their bills, with insurers setting a co-payment cap of no less than S$3,000 (US$2,300) per year.

This cap will be raised to a minimum of S$6,000 per year for riders sold from April 2026 to “keep pace with the increase in bill sizes over time”, said the Health Ministry. The current minimum 5 per cent co-payment requirement will remain unchanged.

These changes will only affect new policyholders who need riders to go to private hospitals, said Mr Ong.

Singapore is addressing this issue so that in the long-term, it can avoid a “big influx” of patients moving from private healthcare to public options, he added.

“As it is, public health care runs 80 per cent of the hospital beds in Singapore, catering to 90 per cent of the patients. So I think we need to arrest this trend.”

Singapore has rolled out several other measures to tackle the problem, including a major review of Medishield Life, strengthening segments of public healthcare subsidies and introducing benchmarks for hospital fees and professional fees, he noted.

The government has also started taking enforcement action against the “small proportion” of doctors and surgeons who set their fees inappropriately, said Mr Ong.

“But I think we cannot run away from the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle, which is that insurance also plays a part, and therefore we're making these changes to new IP rider policies.”