The Ministry of Health (MOH) will be closely monitoring the impact of the policy changes to the Integrated Shield Plan (IP) regime as individuals on new riders may choose to seek public healthcare to reduce their out-of-pocket expenses, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Monday (Jan 12). He was responding to parliamentary questions by Members of Parliament on concerns that private healthcare patients would migrate to the public sector following changes to the IP regime that include a higher co-payment cap for new riders from the current $3,000 to $6,000. New riders sold from April 1 this year will also no longer be allowed to cover the minimum deductibles patients have to pay before insurance kicks in.In his reply, Ong said MOH anticipates that there should be a medium-to-long impact on private and public healthcare utilisation rates as well as wait times following the policy changes. Read more