Medical trend rate outpaced inflation 10 times in 2019

It is expected to rise by 0.1% in 2019.

Singapore’s medical trend rate of 10.0% outpaced inflation ten-times in 2018, and is expected to rise by 0.1% in 2019, as stated in the Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB) 2019 Medical Trends Around the World report.

Consequently, insurers are generally predicting further increases in 2020, MMB said.

“As the cost of health benefit plans continues to rise, employers have the potential to control cost through well-prepared plan designs and accessible quality-focused healthcare benefits for its employees,” they said, adding that 63% of insurers provide education, tools and incentives to drive positive behaviour.

In a previous report, tax experts are pushing policymakers to take into account providing tax deductions for individuals who are paying for health-related insurance policies. Enabling a tax write-off for health insurance premiums also offer taxpayers greater access to preventive and emergency healthcare, said Wu Soo Mee, Partner, People Advisory Services – Mobility (Tax), Ernst & Young Solutions LLP.

Also read: Residents should get tax deductions for health insurance policies, experts say

In response, the number of insurers investing in initiatives to enable quality-focused care, to better guide members to the right care options for them more quickly, has more than doubled, MMB noted. Globally, 29% now name this type of investment as a top strategic priority.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia