Singapore’s healthcare spending to become biggest in government coffers

Spending on healthcare in Singapore could soon become the single biggest item in the government’s coffers, according to Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

He assured Singaporeans that their basic healthcare needs will continue to be affordable, The Straits Times reported.

In 2025, the government has set aside SGD20.9 billion ($15.6 billion) for health, second only to spending on defence, which has a budget of SGD23.4 billion.

Citing the trajectory of Government healthcare expenditure, which had gone up from SGD9 billion in 2015 to SGD 18 billion in 204, he predicted that the figure could be close to SGD 0 billion a year by 2030.

A lot of the money will go towards building more facilities, including new hospitals, nursing homes and community care centres, and for manpower costs. But a substantial portion will be spent on subsidies to keep costs down for patients.

However, to maintain a high-quality medical system, he said people will also have to share in the costs of better care, largely with insurance and their MediSave funds, he said.