Health Care For Elderly

Singapore
- services are provided by both voluntary welfare organisations (VWO) and private
sector operators
- There are different residential health care services for the elderly. For example,
there are facilities like Community Hospitals, Chronic Sick Hospitals, Nursing Homes,
Inpatient Hospice Care and Respite Care
- There are home based and centre based community health care services.
- For home based, there are Home Medical and Home Nursing and Home Hospice
Care Services
- For centre based, there are Day Rehabilitation Centres, Dementia Day Care Centres
and Psychiatric Day Care Centres and Rehabilitation Homes
- Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS) is committing $400
million over the next five years to transform community and home-based services
- Medisavecan be used for Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) and
vaccinations
- There are initiatives like: Integrated Day Facilities, Ensuite Social Home-Based Care,
FDW Grant, Seniors Activity Centres, Caregiver Training & Support and Enhanced
Subsidies for Community and Home-Based Care

- Integrated Day Facilities
40 integrated day facilities (IDF) will be set-up by 2016 to serve 6,000 elderly. IDFs will
provide services like day care and rehabilitation and dementia programmes. Two new IDFs
will be built in 2012 in Tampines and the Bishan/Toa Payoh area, while six existing day care
and day rehabilitation centres will be upgraded to IDFs.
- Ensuite Social Home-Based Care
The Ensuite Social Home-Based Care will support the elderly who prefer to be cared at
home. The elderly will receive home services like personal hygiene, housekeeping and
laundry from a single care worker
- FDW Grant
From the third quarter of 2012, households with per capita monthly income of up to $2,200
can apply for a monthly $120 Foreign Domestic Worker (FDW) Grant, if they need to employ
a FDW to look after an elderly.
- Seniors Activity Centres
The number of Senior Activity Centres (SACs) will be increased from 41 to 58 by 2016, to
cater to 39,000 elderly. 16 anchor SACs will also receive additional funding and social work
capabilities to reach out to vulnerable elderlies.
- Caregiver Training & Support
MCYS and the Centre for Enabled Living will partner caregiver training providers to train up
to 10,000 caregivers this year.
- Enhanced Subsidies for Community and Home-Based Care
The monthly per capita household income for home and community-based care subsidies
will be raised from $1,400 to $2,200. About two-thirds of Singaporean households with
elderly will be eligible for the subsidies. MCYS will also absorb the 7% GST for subsidised
patients requiring eldercare services.

- Medisave and Medishield
- Medisave help patients pay hospitalisation expenses incurred in Class B2/C wards. It
can be used for certain outpatient treatments like chemotherapy, radiotherapy and
dialysis as well.
- Medishield
- Medishield enables patients or patients dependants to settle part of the expenses
arising from prolonged hospitalisation and certain outpatient treatments for serious
illnesses.



Japan
- Invite nurses and caregivers from Indonesia and the Philippines to take care of the
elderly in 2008
- Since 1983 all elderly persons have been covered by government-sponsored
insurance.
- Government implemented a new insurance scheme for the elderly aged 75 and older,
named 'Health Insurance for the Old-Old'.
- setting a common premium rate for individual old-old citizens within each prefecture
- Japan has a compulsory national health service that is financed by employer
contributions
- two main ways of providing a long term care service (institutional and home care) for
elderly people
- commercially, as controlled by market mechanisms; and (b) by social services with
public money.
- Health Services System for the Elderly the other half of their expenses are financed
by taxes on premium payments to all insurers of employees and the self- employed.
- Health insurance benefits include ambulatory and hospital care, extended care, most
dental care and prescription drugs.