Singapore’s Parliament sat on 9–11 July 2018, and a key highlight of the session was a debate on the CareShield Life report.
Three Labour Members of Parliament (MPs) spoke on CareShield Life while two other MPs raised manpower-related matters.
Monitoring Job Matches
NTUC Assistant Secretary-General (ASG) Desmond Choo asked the Manpower Minister for an update on the job matching rates with the new MyCareersFuture.sg portal, the refreshed version of the previous Jobs Bank.
While MyCareersFuture.sg has been well utilised, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said it has not yet been able to capture all job matches. That is because employers may not update the outcome of their job postings.
MOM is now looking at ways to better assess the effectiveness of MyCareersFuture.sg in matching jobs. Mr Choo suggested introducing a vernacular version of the platform to help older jobseekers. Mrs Teo, however, felt employers would prefer to post job openings on a platform that is accessed by more jobseekers.
However, Mrs Teo added that if workers needed the help in vernacular languages, they could approach the centres under Workforce Singapore’s (WSG) Careers Connect and NTUC’s e2i (Employment and Employability Institute).
Public Access to ECT Decisions
Can the judgments and grounds of the decisions made by the Employment Claims Tribunal (ECT) be made available for the public to access and reference?
In response to this question posed by NTUC ASG Patrick Tay, Mrs Teo replied in affirmative, saying it would help promote a greater awareness of employment laws.
She explained that today, any individual can request for a copy of the judgment or grounds of the decision by the ECT. She added that the Tribunal will consider several factors before releasing such information to the requesting party. These include whether the information requested is necessary for the administration of justice or if it is necessary to fulfil a legal requirement.
Minister Teo said this practice is consistent with what is being practised in the State Courts and other tribunals like the Small Claims Tribunals.
CareShield Life
MP for Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC and ASG Zainal Sapari felt that the CareShield Life can be a good opportunity to incentivise Singaporeans. When Singaporeans remain healthy, they will not need to make a claim.
In reply, former Senior Minister of State (SMS) for Health Chee Hong Tat said that it is not feasible to incentivise in a pre-funded scheme like CareShield Life as it can only be confirmed that the policyholder is not claiming only after the person passes away.
Mr Chee is currently the SMS for Trade and Industry, and Education.
Mr Chee added that in computing premiums, the actuaries have already included the probability that some policyholders will not claim from the scheme.
“In view of the trade-offs, the Committee recommended that CareShield Life focuses on supporting basic long-term care needs, so that premiums can be kept affordable for all groups of policyholders,” he explained.
Mr Zainal also asked if the Government will consider converting all Eldershield policyholders into CareShield policyholders and absorbing the additional premium costs.
Mr Chee said the Government will offer participation incentives of up to $2,500 to reduce their premium and encourage participation in the scheme.
He added that the Government will also provide means-tested subsidies and Additional Premium Support under CareShield Life to policyholders from the existing cohorts to ensure no one loses coverage due to financial difficulties.
Mr Zainal also asked why is ElderShield administered by private insurers when it was first introduced, instead of by the Government like how CareShield Life will be.
Mr Chee explained that CareShield Life will be run on a not-for-profit basis, where all premiums collected and any returns on investments will remain entirely within the scheme and used fully for the benefit of policyholders.
He added: “It also facilitates the provision of Government subsidies and financial support to Singaporeans and provides greater flexibility for the Government to make future enhancements to the scheme.”
MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC and ASG Melvin Yong also raised some questions on CareShield Life. Mr Yong asked how the $600 payout was decided, and highlighted that it would be insufficient to help take care of a disabled person.
In response, Mr Chee said that for payouts to increase, premiums will have to as well.
Mr Yong also asked why the Government will only provide transitional subsidies for the first five years after the introduction of CareShield Life, and not beyond.
Mr Chee replied that the subsidies aim to ease the transition into CareShield Life for the immediate few future cohorts who will be joining the scheme from 2020.
He also said that these subsidies are meant to cushion the impact for these few cohorts, and that the amount of subsidies will be gradually reduced over the five-year period.
Both Nominated MP and NTUC Central Committee Member K Thanaletchimi and Mr Zainal asked why CareShield Life is not mandatory for Singaporeans from existing cohorts.
In reply, SMS for Health Amy Khor said: “The [ElderShield Review] Committee had considered this during their review, and decided this was not feasible given the nature of CareShield Life as a pre-funded insurance scheme.”
Ms Thanaletchimi also asked how the Government can help the existing cohorts if they are unable to join CareShield Life.
Dr Khor replied: “The Government will support Singaporeans from existing cohorts who are already severely disabled and unable to join CareShield Life through other measures, including the Medisave and ElderFund.”
