For locals

Singaporeans and permanent residents can utilize medisave and medishield life. Many patients have integrated plans on top of medishield. For needy patients, there are further help via medifund, medication assistance funds and from other sources like Singapore Cancer Society.

Medisave

Medisave is a national savings plan. You can use it for inpatient treatments like surgery and hospitalization. It can also be used for outpatient treatments like cancer drugs and radiotherapy. Yearly, $600 SGD can be used for imaging.

For different types of radiotherapy, claim limit differs.

For external beam radiotherapy, $80 per treatment.
For Brachytherapy, $360 per treatment.
For Stereotactic radiotherapy, $2,800 per treatment
For Proton Beam Therapy for approved clinical indications up to $2,800 per treatment

Medishield Life

MediShield Life is a basic health insurance plan that provides coverage for large hospital bills and selected costly outpatient treatments. There are claim limits for chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Refer to the cancer drug list (CDL) and Central Provident Fund Board (CPFB) for more details.

For different types of radiotherapy, claim limit differs.

For conventional radiotherapy, $300 per treatment
For Brachytherapy, $500 per treatment
For Stereotactic (SRS, SBRT), $1,800 per treatment
For Proton Beam Therapy, up to $1,800 per treatment.

Integrated Shield Plans (IP)

Integrated shield plans (IP) are private insurance coverage components run by the insurance company to supplement medishield life, which is a basic national program (see above). IPs help to supplement medishield and also to cover additional cancer treatments. There are currently 7 IP insurers. Click here to see a comparison table of claim limits.

Shield plans enable patients to claim for cancer services which may cost more than what medisave and medishield life can cover. As of 2022, all insurers have onboarded to implement extended panels which allow patients to seek treatment from any specialist, and not just specialists on their insurance panel. Click here to find out more about how to claim from insurance.

Corporate insurance

If you are an employee, or work in Singapore and have bought your own insurance, claims can be made. This can be in the form of a lump sum for a major cancer, sometimes even for non-invasive cancer ( e.g. ductal carcinoma in-situ or a pre-cancerous polyp etc).

Radiotherapy List

The Ministry of Health allows Medisave and Medishield claims for Proton Beam Therapy according to indications. Different IPs have set different claim limits for Proton Beam Therapy from $50, 000 to $100,000.
For conventional radiotherapy ( X-Ray external beam, SRS, SBRT etc), click here to find out more about Medisave and Medishield limits.

Cancer Drug List (CDL)

Click here to find out more about Ministry of Health Cancer Drug List. MOH has set claim limits with Medisave and Medishield Life for cancer drugs according to tumour types and indications. For integrated plans (IP), different insurers have claim limits.

Surgery benchmark fees

The benchmarks are the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) recommended charges for surgeons and procedurists in private sector. The benchmark informs a reasonable range of fees that patients and insurers could expect to pay.
Typically, there are several components for surgical procedures including payments for surgeons’ fees, anesthetists’ charges and hospital bills.

Palliative services financing

Medisave can be used for inpatient and outpatient palliative services. For terminal cancers, there are no limits for outpatient treatments.
For medishield, claims can be made for inpatient palliative services. Certain IPs insurers allow for home palliative benefits.

For overseas patients

Patients who are not citizens or permanent residents but work locally can utilize corporate or personal insurance. Overseas patients may use international insurance for claims. You may need a letter of guarantee or direct payment from your international insurer.

These are common international insurers.

• Cigna
• BUPA
• Aetna
• Henner
• Allianz
• AXA international
• AIA Platinum
• International SOS
• Prestige
• Vanbreda