Medisave top-ups worth S$180 million to be given to Pioneers this year
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — Pioneers who are Singaporeans aged 68 and above this year will get letters this week telling them the amount of the payout they will receive in their Central Provident Fund (CPF) Medisave accounts, the Finance Ministry said.
The annual top-up next month, which started in 2014, is part of the Pioneer Generation Package given to Singapore’s nation-building generation, and each individual gets between S$200 and S$800 annually for life. This year, the Government will disburse about S$180 million, the ministry said in a press release on Monday (June 12).
For this round of payouts, Pioneers born between 1945 and 1949 will receive S$200, and those born between 1940 and 1944 will receive S$400.
Pioneers born between 1935 and 1939 will get S$600, while those born in 1934 or earlier will get S$800.
Recipients may use these Medisave top-ups to pay for their hospitalisation bills, day surgery fees, and certain approved outpatient treatments including renal dialysis, chemotherapy, certain chronic diseases, scans, vaccinations, screening mammograms and colonoscopies, among other approved medical procedures. They can also use it to pay their Medishield Life insurance premiums and other Medisave-approved insurance plans.
The upcoming Medisave top-up is in addition to the one to be made in August for those aged 65 and above this year, under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Voucher Scheme, also credited into Medisave.
With these two payouts, an older Pioneer — who is 85 years old, living in a public housing flat and does not own a second property — will get a total of S$1,250 in Medisave top-ups this year, for example.
This consists of the S$800 Pioneer Generation Medisave top-up and a S$450 GST Voucher.
A Pioneer who is 68 this year and in similar circumstances will receive a total of S$450 in Medisave top-ups, comprising the S$200 Pioneer Generation Medisave top-up and a S$250 GST Voucher.
The amount given out under the Pioneer Generation Package is dependent only on age, while the top-ups under the GST Voucher Scheme will depend on the recipient’s age, annual value of the place of residence and number of properties owned.
