Medi Shield Life Scheme Bill

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“approved medical institution” means any medical institution approved by the Minister for the purposes of section 3;

“approved medical treatment or services” means any medical treatment or medical services approved by the Minister for the purposes of section 3;

“authorised person” —

“Board” means the Central Provident Fund Board constituted under section 3 of the CPF Act;

“Central Provident Fund” means the Central Provident Fund established under section 6 of the CPF Act;

“Council” means the MediShield Life Council established under section 8;

“CPF Act” means the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36);

“CPF member” means a “member of the Fund” or “member” as defined in section 2(1) of the CPF Act;

“defaulter” means a person liable to pay an outstanding premium;

“Fund” means the MediShield Life Fund referred to in section 7, and includes the MediShield Fund;

“health declaration” means a declaration, as to whether a person has any pre-existing medical condition, submitted to the Board for the purposes of determining whether premium loading under the Scheme applies to that person;

“healthcare-related public scheme” means a public scheme, prescribed for the purposes of Part 5, that is established to provide any grant, subsidy or other benefit for the payment of any healthcare expenses, and includes a relevant public scheme;

“household composition” means information on the identity and particulars of the persons who comprise a household for the purposes of determining whether a member of that household satisfies the eligibility criteria for a grant, subsidy or benefit under a relevant public scheme or any tier or category within such eligibility criteria;

“insured person” means a person who is insured under the Scheme;

“investigator” means a public officer appointed under section 20(1) or an officer of the Board appointed under section 20(2);

“IRAS” means the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore established under section 3 of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 138A);

“means declaration” means a declaration, submitted to a person appointed by the Minister, for the purposes of determining a person’s household income or eligibility for a grant, subsidy or other benefit under a relevant public scheme;

“means information” means —

“medisave account” means a medisave account maintained under section 13 of the CPF Act;

“MediShield Fund” means the fund called the MediShield Fund referred to in section 56 of the CPF Act as in force immediately before the date of commencement of section 37(7);

“MediShield Scheme” means the medical insurance scheme called the MediShield Scheme referred to in section 53 of the CPF Act as in force immediately before the date of commencement of section 37(7);

“outstanding premium” means the amount of premium due which remains unpaid, and includes any interest imposed under section 11(1)(a) in respect of the premium and any penalty imposed under section 17 in respect of the premium;

“premium” means a premium payable for insurance cover under the Scheme;

“prescribed public scheme” means a public scheme prescribed for the purposes of Part 5;

“public authority” means a body established or constituted by or under a public Act to perform or discharge a public function;

“public scheme” means any scheme to provide financial relief, assistance or support to citizens or permanent residents of Singapore, or any part of them, that is established —

“recovery body” means any statutory body prescribed as a recovery body under section 18(1);

“relevant authority” means IRAS, the Commissioner of Stamp Duties, the Comptroller of Goods and Services Tax, the Comptroller of Income Tax, the Comptroller of Property Tax, the Chief Assessor, or any Government department or public authority in possession of means information;

“relevant public scheme” means a public scheme to provide any grant, subsidy or other benefit for the payment of a premium payable under this Act;

“relevant regulations” means any regulations made under this Act;

“Scheme” means the medical insurance scheme called the MediShield Life Scheme referred to in section 3.

A person has a pre-existing medical condition in relation to that person’s insurance cover under the Scheme (called in this subsection the relevant insurance cover), if the person has a medical condition specified by the Minister for the purposes of premium loading under this Act immediately before —

For the purposes of this Act —

For the purposes of this Act, the time at which an individual attains a particular age expressed in years is the corresponding anniversary of the date of that individual’s birth, except that where an individual was born on 29 February in any year, then, in any subsequent year, the anniversary of that individual’s birth is deemed to occur on 1 March of that subsequent year.

A reference to a health declaration or a means declaration in this Act includes a reference to a health declaration or a means declaration, as the case may be, made before the date of commencement of section 3, in anticipation of the establishment of the Scheme.

A medical insurance scheme, known as the MediShield Life Scheme, is established for the purpose of paying the whole or part of the costs incurred by an insured person for approved medical treatment or services received by the insured person in an approved medical institution during the period when the insured person is insured under the Scheme.

The Board is to administer the Scheme in accordance with this Act.

The Scheme applies to every person who is a citizen or permanent resident of Singapore.

The premium for each insurance period (called in this section the relevant insurance period) of such amount as may be prescribed in the relevant regulations is to be paid —

Despite anything in the CPF Act, the Board is entitled to deduct, from the amount standing to a person’s credit in that person’s medisave account, the whole or any part of the premium for the relevant insurance period (including any interest or penalty imposed under section 11(1)(a) or 17, as the case may be, in respect of that premium) —

In subsection (1), “parent”, in relation to an insured person who has not attained 21 years of age, includes —

Where the whole or any part of the premium paid by a person is liable to be refunded under this Act, the amount may be refunded —

The Board is entitled to recover on behalf of the Government from any amount which is liable to be refunded under this Act —

Where a person who has paid in cash any sum towards the premium for any insurance period (called in this section the relevant person), whether for the relevant person or for any other person, dies before the start of that insurance period, and the sum does not exceed such amount as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, specify —

Subsection (3) does not affect any recourse which any person may have against a proper claimant for an amount paid to the proper claimant under subsection (3)(a).

In this section —

“child” means a legitimate child and includes any child adopted by virtue of an order of court under any written law for the time being in force in Singapore, Malaysia or Brunei Darussalam;

“parent” includes —

“proper claimant” means a person who —

If, on account of any material change in the information available to the Board or the correction of any error, or in any other circumstances prescribed in the relevant regulations, the Board finds that there is any shortfall in any premium paid in respect of any insurance period by or for any person insured or to be insured under the Scheme, the amount of the shortfall is payable, by all or any of the following persons, and in such proportion, as the Board may require:

If, on account of any material change in the information available to the Board or the correction of any error, or in any other circumstances prescribed in the relevant regulations, the Board finds that any benefit under the Scheme has been paid in excess of the amount that ought to have been paid under the Scheme, the excess payment is to be repaid to the Fund in accordance with the relevant regulations —

The Board may charge an insured person, a person by whom the premium is payable or an approved medical institution an administrative fee prescribed in the relevant regulations, if any material change, error or prescribed circumstances referred to in subsection (1) or (2) arises from incorrect information which is —

Sections 4(2), 7(2), 32(2) and 34(2)(e) and Part 3 apply, with such modifications as may be prescribed in the relevant regulations, to any amount payable under this section as they apply to a premium.

The MediShield Fund is renamed the MediShield Life Fund and is to be administered in accordance with this Act.

The MediShield Life Fund comprises —

All payments under the Scheme are to be met from the Fund.

Any costs or expenses incurred in the administration or enforcement of the Scheme may be met from the Fund.

The Board may invest the moneys in the Fund in accordance with the standard investment power of statutory boards as defined in section 33A of the Interpretation Act (Cap. 1), except that the Board is subject to any general or specific directions from the Minister (instead of the Minister charged with the responsibility for the Board).

Every amount paid into or out of the MediShield Fund before the date of commencement of this section to defray any costs and expenses incurred for the purposes of the MediShield Scheme or the Scheme is taken to be and always to have been validly paid, and no legal proceedings are to lie or be instituted or maintained in any court of law on account of or in respect of any such payment.

The Board is not liable for any payment under the Scheme, or for any costs or expenses incurred in the administration or enforcement of the Scheme, by reason of anything done, purported to be done, or omitted to be done, by the Board in good faith and with reasonable care.

A MediShield Life Council is established, comprising the following members, all of whom are to be appointed by the Minister:

In addition to the functions and powers conferred on the Council by other provisions of this Act, the Council also has the following functions:

The terms and conditions of the appointment of the members of the Council are to be determined by the Minister.

The Council may appoint from amongst its own members or from other persons who are not members such number of committees as the Council thinks fit for purposes which, in the opinion of the Council, would be better managed by means of such committees.

Unless otherwise provided by or under this Act, the Council may determine the procedure to be adopted by the Council for the purposes of this Act.

The Council may in respect of a specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate any of its functions, duties or powers under this Act to a member of the Council or a committee appointed under section 8(4), except the power of delegation conferred by this subsection.

The Board may in respect of a specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate any of its functions, duties or powers under this Act to a member, an officer or a committee of the Board, except the power of delegation conferred by this subsection.

The chief executive officer of the Board may in respect of a specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate any of the chief executive officer’s functions, duties or powers under this Act to a member or an officer of the Board, except the power of delegation conferred by this subsection.

A recovery body may in respect of a specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate any of its powers under this Act to any officer of the recovery body, except the power of delegation conferred by this subsection.

Without affecting the power of delegation under section 36 of the Interpretation Act (Cap. 1), any Minister who has the power to issue an approval or a direction under Part 5 may in respect of any specified matter or class of matters, by writing, delegate that power to any public officer.

Every member, officer, committee or public officer purporting to act pursuant to a delegation under this section is, in the absence of proof to the contrary, presumed to be acting in accordance with the terms of the delegation.

A delegation under this section is revocable at will, and no such delegation prevents the exercise of any power, function or duty by the Minister, the Council, the Board, the chief executive officer of the Board or the recovery body, as the case may be, which makes the delegation.

The rights and benefits of an insured person arising from the insured person’s insurance cover under the Scheme are not assignable or transferable.

A policy of insurance issued under the Scheme does not create any legal or equitable trust.

Section 73 of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act (Cap. 61) and section 49L of the Insurance Act (Cap. 142) do not apply to any policy of insurance issued under the Scheme.

The Insurance Act does not apply to the Scheme or anything done under this Act.

If the whole or any part of the premium payable for an insurance period remains unpaid at the expiry of such period as the Board may permit (being not less than one month) after the beginning of that insurance period —

A recovery body must serve a demand note on a defaulter liable to pay any outstanding premium —

A demand note must state —

This Part applies to an outstanding premium despite any appeal pending against liability to pay the whole or any part of that outstanding premium.

A recovery body may, if it considers necessary, by notice in writing declare any person to be a defaulter’s agent.

The person declared to be the defaulter’s agent under subsection (1) is to be treated as the agent of the defaulter for the purposes of this Act, and may be required by the recovery body to pay any outstanding premium payable by the defaulter from any moneys which may be held by the defaulter’s agent for, or due from the defaulter’s agent to, the defaulter —

Where separate amounts of moneys come to be held by the defaulter’s agent for, or become due from the defaulter’s agent to, the defaulter at different times within the period in subsection (2)(a) or (b), as the case may be, the recovery body may require the outstanding premium to be paid in instalments of such sums as the recovery body may specify from one or more of those separate amounts.

Any person who is declared by a recovery body to be a defaulter’s agent under subsection (1) and is aggrieved by the declaration may object to the declaration by notice in writing to the recovery body within 14 days after the date of receipt of the notice, or within such longer period as the recovery body in its discretion may allow.

The recovery body must examine the objection and may cancel, vary or confirm the declaration.

An objector in subsection (4) who is aggrieved by the recovery body’s decision upon the objection in subsection (5) may appeal against that decision in accordance with the relevant regulations.

If the defaulter’s agent fails to make any payment under subsection (2), the outstanding premium is recoverable from the defaulter’s agent in the manner provided in section 15.

For the purposes of this section, a recovery body may require any person to give information as to —

In this section, “earnings”, in relation to a defaulter, means any sum payable to the defaulter —

Where a defaulter’s agent makes any payment of moneys to the recovery body under this section or section 13 —

This section applies where the moneys referred to in section 12(2) are moneys in a joint account of which the defaulter is a joint account holder, or are the proceeds of sale of any immovable property of which the defaulter was a joint owner.

The defaulter’s agent must —

It is presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the joint account holders of a joint account have equal shares of the moneys in the account as at the date of the receipt of the notice under section 12(2), and that the joint owners of any immovable property share the proceeds of sale of the property equally.

Any owner of joint moneys who objects to the share presumed under subsection (3) may give notice of the owner’s objection in writing to the defaulter’s agent within 28 days after the date of the receipt of the agent’s notice under subsection (2)(a), or within such longer period as the recovery body may allow, and furnish proof as to the owner’s share of the joint moneys together with the notice of objection.

Where an objection under subsection (4) is received, the defaulter’s agent must —

The recovery body must consider the objection under subsection (4) and, by notice in writing, inform the objector of its decision.

An owner of joint moneys aggrieved by the decision of the recovery body under subsection (6) may appeal against that decision in accordance with the relevant regulations.

Where the recovery body has decided under subsection (6) on the amount of the defaulter’s share of the joint moneys, the defaulter’s agent must, despite any appeal under subsection (7), pay that amount, from the amount of the joint moneys retained under subsection (5)(b), towards any outstanding premium due from the defaulter.

In this section, “joint account” means a bank account in the names of 2 or more persons, but excludes any partnership account, any trust account and any account where a minor is one of the joint account holders.

Where —

If a public officer makes a payment under subsection (1) towards the outstanding premium referred to in subsection (1)(a) —

All outstanding premiums imposed under this Act, and all sums due to the Fund, may be sued for and recovered by a recovery body in its own name by way of specially endorsed writ of summons.

A recovery body is entitled to all costs and interest allowed by law against the person sued.

All sums (including costs and interest) recovered in a suit brought under this section are to be paid into the Fund.

Where a recovery body is of the opinion that any defaulter is about or likely to leave Singapore without paying all outstanding premiums payable by the defaulter, the recovery body may issue a certificate containing particulars of such outstanding premiums and a direction to the Commissioner of Police or the Controller of Immigration, or both, to prevent the defaulter from leaving Singapore without paying the outstanding premiums or furnishing security to the recovery body for the payment.

Subject to the provisions of any order issued or made under any law for the time being in force relating to banishment or immigration, upon receiving a direction under subsection (1), the Commissioner of Police or the Controller of Immigration, or both, as the case may be, are to take, or cause any police officer or immigration officer to take, such measures as may be necessary to prevent the defaulter from leaving Singapore until every outstanding premium has been paid or secured.

The measures referred to in subsection (2) may include —

At the time the recovery body issues the certificate under subsection (1), the recovery body must issue to the defaulter, by personal service or registered post, a notification of the issue of the certificate; but a non‑receipt of the notification does not invalidate any proceedings under this section.

Payment of the outstanding premium to an officer in charge of a police station or an immigration officer, or production of a certificate issued by the recovery body stating that the outstanding premium has been paid or secured, is sufficient authority for allowing the defaulter to leave Singapore.

A defaulter who, knowing that a direction has been issued under this section to prevent the defaulter’s departure from Singapore, voluntarily leaves or attempts to leave Singapore without paying the outstanding premium or furnishing security to the recovery body’s satisfaction for that payment —

No civil or criminal proceedings are to be instituted or maintained against the Commissioner of Police, the Controller of Immigration or any other police officer or immigration officer, in respect of anything done in good faith and with reasonable care under the authority of this section.

Subject to subsection (3), if the whole or any part of the premium for an insurance period, or any interest imposed under section 11(1)(a), remains unpaid at the expiry of such period as the Board may permit (being not less than one month) after the beginning of that insurance period, a penalty may be added to the premium and interest at the rates and times prescribed in the relevant regulations.

Subject to subsection (3), the relevant regulations may provide for penalties to be imposed at different rates for premiums and interest imposed under section 11(1)(a) which remain unpaid for different periods.

The total amount of the penalties imposed on the premium and interest for an insurance period must not exceed 17% of the total amount of the premium for that insurance period and any interest imposed under section 11(1)(a) on the outstanding premiums for that insurance period.

The recovery body may, subject to such terms and conditions as the recovery body may specify, extend the time limit within which payment of any penalty is to be made.

A recovery body may for any good cause shown remit the whole or any part of the penalty imposed by it under subsection (1).

The Minister may prescribe one or more statutory bodies as recovery bodies for the purposes of this Part.

A recovery body may —

Despite the provisions of any written law, a legal officer of a recovery body who is an advocate and solicitor may appear for the recovery body in any civil proceedings arising from the exercise of the recovery body’s powers under this Part, and may make and do all acts and applications in respect of such proceedings on behalf of the recovery body.

A person commits an offence if the person —

A person shall be liable on conviction of an offence under subsection (1) —

A person who commits an offence under subsection (1), with the intention of causing any premium to be undercharged or any benefit or claim to be overpaid under the Scheme, shall be guilty of an offence under this subsection and shall be liable on conviction of the offence under this subsection —

In this section, “relevant amount” means the amount by which any premium has been undercharged, or the amount of any benefit or claim that has been overpaid, as a result of the offence, or that would have been so undercharged or overpaid if the false or misleading declaration or application (as the case may be) had been accepted as correct.

The Minister may, in writing, appoint any public officer to investigate any offence under this Act.

The chief executive officer of the Board may, in writing, appoint any officer of the Board to investigate any offence under this Act.

An investigator, when exercising any powers and carrying out any duties under this Act, must comply with such general or special directions as may from time to time be given —

An investigator who has a reasonable suspicion that any person has committed an offence under this Act may —

Where any document or record required by an investigator is kept in electronic form, then —

Any copy of or extract from any document or record made under subsection (1)(c) and certified as such by the investigator is admissible as evidence in any proceedings under this Act.

Any person who, when required by an investigator to furnish under subsection (1)(b) any information or produce any document or record, refuses or fails, without reasonable excuse, to furnish the information or to produce the document or record within the time allowed by the investigator shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

Where an offence under this Act committed by a body corporate is proved —

Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (1) is to apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member were a director of the body corporate.

Where an offence under this Act committed by a partnership is proved —

Where an offence under this Act committed by an unincorporated association (other than a partnership) is proved —

In this section —

“body corporate” includes a limited liability partnership as defined in section 2(1) of the Limited Liability Partnerships Act (Cap. 163A);

“officer” —

“partner” includes a person purporting to act as a partner.

A public officer authorised by the Minister, or an officer of the Board authorised by the chief executive officer of the Board, may compound any offence under this Act which is prescribed as a compoundable offence by collecting from a person reasonably suspected of having committed the offence a sum not exceeding the lower of the following:

On payment of such sum of money, no further proceedings are to be taken against that person in respect of the offence.

All sums collected under this section are to be paid into the Fund.

Where the Minister certifies, under the Minister’s hand, that a public officer, a public authority or any other organisation or person (called in this subsection a recipient organisation) requires any particular class of confidential information about a person (called in this subsection a person concerned), which is in the possession of a Government department or another public authority, for the administration or enforcement of the Scheme or in order to disburse or facilitate the disbursement of any grant, subsidy or benefit under a healthcare‑related public scheme, in relation to the person concerned —

The Board may use so much of the confidential information about a person, obtained by the Board before, on or after the date of commencement of this section in the course of performing the Board’s functions or duties under the CPF Act, to administer or enforce the Scheme in relation to that person as —

The Board may use so much of the confidential information about a person obtained by the Board in the course of performing its functions or duties under this Act to perform the Board’s functions and duties under the CPF Act in relation to that person as the Minister approves to be used for that purpose.

A person who had consented, before the date of commencement of section 34(2)(j), to the Board disclosing information about that person in the Board’s possession to an insurer to administer or operate an insurance scheme referred to in section 77(1)(k) of the CPF Act in relation to that person, or that person’s dependant, is deemed to consent to the Board disclosing information, obtained by the Board on or after that date in the course of administering or enforcing the CPF Act or this Act, to that insurer to administer or operate that insurance scheme (whether pursuant to regulations made under section 77(1)(k) of the CPF Act or regulations made under section 34(2)(j)), until such deemed consent is withdrawn.

Subsections (1), (2) and (3) do not apply to —

Where the Minister certifies, under the Minister’s hand, that an authorised person requires confidential information about a person (called in this section a person concerned) which is in the possession of a medical institution or a medical practitioner who attended to the person concerned in that medical institution, in order to —

Where any confidential information about a person concerned has been obtained under subsection (1), an authorised person may —

If a person concerned opts out, in the manner determined by the Minister, from the provision of information about the person concerned for the purposes of subsection (1)(a), an authorised person must not, from the time the authorised person is notified that the person concerned has opted out, except with the consent of the person concerned —

A person who has not attained the age of 21 years (called in this subsection the minor) may opt out from the provision of information about the minor for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) only if —

Where an authorised person requests for means information about a person (called in this section a person concerned), which is in the possession of a relevant authority, to assess the eligibility of any person for any grant, subsidy or benefit under a relevant public scheme, the relevant authority is to provide to the authorised person so much of that means information as —

An authorised person may access or use, or disclose to another authorised person, any means information provided under subsection (1) for the purposes for which the information was provided.

An authorised person may provide means information about a person concerned obtained under subsection (1) to any public authority or other organisation or person that is responsible for a prescribed public scheme (called in this subsection a recipient organisation) or any officer, employee or agent of the recipient organisation, for the recipient organisation to disburse, or facilitate the disbursement of, a grant, subsidy or benefit under the prescribed public scheme, only —

If a person concerned opts out, in the manner determined by the Minister, from the provision of means information about the person concerned for the purpose referred to in subsection (1), an authorised person must not, from the time the authorised person is notified that the person concerned has opted out, except with the consent of the person concerned —

If a person concerned opts out, in the manner determined by the Minister, from the provision of information about the person concerned under subsection (3) for the disbursement, or for facilitating the disbursement, of all grants, subsidies or benefits under all prescribed public schemes, an authorised person must not from the time the authorised person is notified that the person concerned has opted out, disclose the information under subsection (3), except with the consent of the person concerned.

A person who has not attained the age of 21 years (called in this subsection the minor) may opt out from the provision of means information about the minor under subsection (1) or (3) only if —

Information on a person’s household composition and whether that person satisfies the eligibility criteria for a grant, subsidy or benefit under a relevant public scheme or any tier or category within such eligibility criteria, derived from information obtained under this section may be disclosed to that person.

IRAS may, if it is prescribed as a recovery body, use to enforce the Scheme so much of the means information or other confidential information obtained by it (whether before, on or after the date of commencement of this section) in the course of performing its functions under section 6 of the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore Act (Cap. 138A) as the Minister charged with the responsibility for finance approves to be used for such purpose.

Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), any person who, knowing that any information about any other person was provided or obtained under any provision of section 26, 27 or 28, accesses, uses or discloses the information, without the written consent of that other person, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

No person or organisation shall be guilty of an offence under any written law or of any breach of confidence, shall incur any civil liability or shall be liable to any disciplinary action by a professional body, by virtue merely of doing any of the following in good faith and with reasonable care:

Sections 26, 27 and 28 and subsection (2) apply —

Sections 26, 27 and 28 do not affect the exercise of any right or authority under any other written law or rule of law to access, use or disclose confidential information.

An approval under section 26(2)(b) or (3), 27(2)(b)(i), 28(1)(b), (3)(c) or (8) or 29(2)(d) or a direction under section 26(1)(a) may be given on such terms and conditions, as the Minister giving the approval or direction considers appropriate, regarding access to the information provided or disclosed pursuant to the approval or direction, as the case may be.

A certification, an approval or a direction by a Minister under this Part may be given in relation to a particular class of confidential information about persons within a class of persons specified in the certification, approval or direction.

References in this Part to the Scheme and to other provisions of this Act are to apply, before the commencement of the provisions establishing the Scheme and the commencement of those other provisions of this Act, respectively, as if those provisions were already in force.

Subject to subsection (2), every person who is liable to pay any premium under section 4(1)(c)(i) or (ii) must inform the Board in writing of any change in that person’s residential address.

If a person has changed that person’s residential address and has made a report of the change under section 8 of the National Registration Act (Cap. 201), that person is taken to have informed the Board of the change of that residential address in accordance with subsection (1).

In any legal proceedings, a copy of an entry in the accounts of the Fund duly certified under the hand of an officer of the Board authorised by the Board to sign the certification is prima facie evidence of the entry having been made and of the truth of the contents of the entry.

In any suit under section 15, the production of a certificate signed by an officer of the Board authorised by the Board to sign the certification stating the following is sufficient evidence of the amount due and sufficient authority for the court to give judgment for that amount: