Singapore is facing a rapidly ageing population. In fact, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Social and Family Development, by 2030, more than 900,000 residents would be aged 65 year or older.
To tackle this silver tsunami, the government have been actively allocating more funds and creating more Eldercare grants and subsidies in Singapore to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for everyone.
Read on to find out more about the help you and your loved ones can get!
1. ElderShield
Arguably the most well-known Eldercare scheme in Singapore, ElderShield is a severe disability insurance scheme that provides basic financial protection to those who are not able to do simple daily activities and need long-term care.
All Singapore Citizen and Permanent resident aged 40 and above are eligible for ElderShield and it is paid with their Medisave account unless they opted out.
Benefits:
ElderShield 300: $3000 monthly payout for up to 60 months
ElderShield 400: $400 monthly payout for up to 72 months
For more information on ElderShield, please visit: https://www.cpf.gov.sg/Members/Schemes/schemes/healthcare/eldershield.
2. Interim Disability Assistance Programme (IDAPE)
IDAPE is a government assistance scheme providing financial help to needy and disabled elderly Singaporeans who are ineligible for ElderShield because they have exceeded the minimum entry age or had pre-existing disabilities.
You are eligible for IDAPE scheme if you are unable to perform 3 or more of the 6 Activities of Daily Living (ADL)* and your per capita household monthly income is S$2,800 or less OR you have no household income and are living in a residence with Annual Value of S$13,000 and below.
Benefits:
Depending on the monthly household income per capita, there will be a monthly payout of S$150 – S$250 for up to 72 months
For more information on IDAPE, please visit: https://www.aic.sg/financial-assistance/interim-disability-assistance-programme-elderly.
3. Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS)
Image from CHAS
CHAS enables all Singapore Citizens, including Pioneer Generation (PG) and Merdeka Generation (MG) cardholders, to receive subsidies for medical and/or dental care at participating General Practitioner (GP) and dental clinics.
The subsidies are tiered based on the household monthly per capital income or the annual value of your residence and there are three tiers: Green, Orange and Blue.
Benefits:
Subsidies for common illnesses, chronic conditions under Chronic Disease Management Programme, selected dental services and health screening by HPB and nationally recommended vaccinations
For more information on CHAS, please visit: https://www.chas.sg/content.aspx?id=303.
4. Seniors’ Mobility & Enabling Fund (SMF)
SMF provides subsidies to offset the costs of assistive devices, home healthcare items and transport to Ministry of Health (MOH)-funded centres to support caregivers in caring for their seniors at home.
Singaporeans aged 60 and above with a household per capita income of less than S$2,600 or living in a residence that has an annual value of S$13,000 or less are eligible for this subsidy but are required to pass the mean-test by MOH.
Benefits:
Subsidies for assistive devices (eg. walking sticks and wheelchairs), transport to day services at MOH-funded centres and home healthcare items (eg. catheters, milk supplements, nasal tubing and wound dressings)
For more information, please visit: https://www.aic.sg/financial-assistance/seniors-mobility-enabling-fund.
5. Caregiver training grant (CTG)
CTG is an annual training grant that caregivers can use to offset the costs of approved courses, such as day-to-day care, behaviour management, and functional skills development in areas like stroke management and bowel care and catheter management.
Care recipients must either be a Singapore citizen or Permanent Resident, aged 65 and older, or have a disability as assessed by a doctor in for their caregivers to be eligible for CTG. The caregiver must also be the main person in charge of caring for the care recipient and have completed any of the CTG-approved training courses.
Benefits:
$200 subsidy is provided for each care recipient every financial year (from 1 April to 31 March the next year)
For more information, please visit: https://www.aic.sg/financial-assistance/caregivers-training-grant.
There are many financial assistance schemes available for Singaporeans and Permanent residence.
Please visit https://www.aic.sg/financial-assistance for more information.