MediSave

MediSave is Singapore's national medical savings scheme: the MediSave Account (MA) inside the Central Provident Fund (CPF) into which part of every working member's income is set aside to pay for healthcare, especially in old age (MOH, accessed Oct 2026). CPF Board states that a working member saves 8% to 10.5% of monthly salary into MediSave (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). MediSave is the member's own money, not a government subsidy, and it is the first of the "3Ms" described in healthcare financing. Because withdrawals are capped per treatment, MediSave is designed to pay the subsidised share of a bill rather than any bill in full.

What MediSave can pay for

MediSave can be used for hospitalisation and day surgery, selected outpatient treatments, rehabilitation, palliative and long-term care, and health-insurance premiums (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). On premiums, MOH states that MediSave covers MediShield Life, ElderShield and CareShield Life premiums in full, and can pay Integrated Shield Plan and ElderShield/CareShield Life supplement premiums up to approved limits (MOH, accessed Oct 2026). Outpatient uses include chronic disease management, vaccinations under the national childhood and adult schedules, selected screenings such as mammograms for women aged 40 and above, and diagnostic scans (MOH outpatient care, accessed Oct 2026).

MediSave can be used at public hospitals, national specialty centres, polyclinics and participating private medical institutions; MediSave500/700 outpatient claims are made at participating clinics listed on the CHAS website (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). For a bill, the provider normally submits the claim when the patient signs the Medical Claims Authorisation Form; MOH notes that MediSave use for a family member requires the MCAF(S) form (MOH, accessed Oct 2026). The insurance premiums MediSave pays are explained in medishield life and careshield life.

Withdrawal limits

MediSave withdrawals are capped per treatment so that balances last into old age; MOH says the limits are generally adequate for most charges at subsidised wards and outpatient treatments (MOH, accessed Oct 2026). MOH's published inpatient limits, checked in October 2026, are:

• Acute inpatient ward charges: S$1,130 per day for days 1–2, then S$400 per day from day 3, plus a surgical limit by procedure table (Table 1 to Table 7) and class (A/B/C), from S$240 up to S$5,290 (MOH inpatient care, accessed Oct 2026).
• Approved day surgery: S$830 per day in daily hospital charges, plus the surgical limit.
• Community hospital: S$250 per day; convalescent hospital S$50 per day up to S$3,000 a year; geriatric day hospital S$150 per day up to S$3,000 a year.
• Assisted conception: S$6,000, S$5,000 and S$4,000 for the first, second and later cycles, subject to a lifetime limit of S$15,000 per patient.

For outpatient care, MediSave500/700 lets a patient use up to S$500 a year, or S$700 for complex chronic conditions; Flexi-MediSave adds up to S$400 a year for patients aged 60 and above; outpatient scans have a separate S$600 yearly limit; and Cancer Drug List treatments may draw S$600 or S$1,200 a month depending on the drug (MOH outpatient care, accessed Oct 2026). From 1 February 2024, citizens and permanent residents treated for chronic conditions by their Healthier SG enrolled clinic no longer pay the 15% cash co-payment and can use MediSave for the full bill within the limits. These limits change after reviews; quote them with the check date.

Using MediSave for family members

MediSave can pay medical expenses of the member's spouse, children, parents, grandparents and siblings. These family members may be of any nationality, except that grandparents and siblings must be Singapore Citizens or permanent residents (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). MOH describes the eligible relatives as approved dependants and applies this through specific schemes rather than every MediSave use (MOH, accessed Oct 2026).

The family rule has practical limits. For home palliative and day hospice care, a terminally ill patient using their own MediSave faces no withdrawal limit, but family members' MediSave may be used only up to S$2,500 per patient per lifetime (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). For Flexi-MediSave, a spouse's account can be used only when both spouses are aged 60 or above (MOH outpatient care, accessed Oct 2026). Family members may also pay a relative's MediShield Life or CareShield Life premiums from their own MediSave (CPF Board CareShield Life, accessed Oct 2026). Pooling MediSave across a family therefore stretches one member's savings, but it also draws down the payer's own old-age health reserve.

The Basic Healthcare Sum

The Basic Healthcare Sum (BHS) is CPF Board's estimate of the savings a member needs in MediSave for basic subsidised healthcare in old age, and it is also the maximum a member can hold in MediSave (CPF Board, accessed Oct 2026). The BHS for members below 65 in 2026 is S$79,000. It is adjusted every year to keep pace with healthcare consumption until the member turns 65, after which it is fixed for life at that cohort's level — for example, S$79,000 for members born in 1961, S$75,500 for those born in 1960, and S$49,800 for those born in 1951 or earlier. Contributions above the BHS flow to the member's other CPF accounts (CPF Board BHS 2026 release, accessed Oct 2026). Canonical yearly BHS figures are kept in annual rates and healthcare financing anchors.

The BHS interacts with other schemes. Self-employed persons must contribute to MediSave when their annual net trade income exceeds S$6,000 (self employed cpf), and older Singapore Citizens with low balances can receive government matching for cash top-ups (matched medisave scheme). The BHS is a cap and a planning benchmark, not a guarantee that a member holds that amount.

MediSave Care and how to read the limits

MediSave Care lets Singapore Citizens and permanent residents aged 30 and above who are assessed as severely disabled — unable to perform at least three of six activities of daily living — withdraw up to S$200 a month in cash from MediSave for long-term care (CPF Board MediSave Care, accessed Oct 2026). The monthly amount is tiered by balance: S$200 with S$20,000 or more, S$150 with S$15,000 or more, S$100 with S$10,000 or more, and S$50 with S$5,000 or more; no withdrawal is possible below S$5,000. A spouse can top up the withdrawal from their own MediSave up to the combined S$200. Applications go through an MOH-accredited severe-disability assessor and the Agency for Integrated Care's eFASS portal. MediSave Care sits alongside careshield life payouts and elderfund, as described in eldercare.

The main critique of MediSave is that capped withdrawals and individual balances leave gaps: a member with a short or low-wage work history may hold far less than the BHS, and large or private-sector bills exceed the per-treatment limits by design. MediSave therefore relies on subsidies, medishield life and, as a last resort, medifund to carry costs that personal savings cannot.