Help guide to Using Medisave for Dental Procedures

Medisave is the national medical savings scheme that can help Singaporeans and Permanent Residents to help keep aside a portion of their income into a medical-focused checking account, which can be used to defray hospitalisation, day surgery and certain outpatient expenses.

Under the Medisave Scheme in Singapore, every employee will contribute 8 to 10.Five percent of the monthly salary to their own personal Medisave account, based on their age group. When required, the savings might be withdrawn to cover the hospitalisation along with other eligible bills of himself or immediate family members.

Procedures Entitled to Medisave Claims

Besides that, Medisave can also be used to pay for certain services at dental clinics and medical institutions accredited through the Ministry of Health insurance and Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board. As a general guide, dental treatments that involve surgery and therefore are performed due to medical reasons could be paid for using Medisave.

Such medical treatments will usually range from the following:

• Surgical elimination of wisdom tooth or fractured tooth
• Gum grafting
• Jaw surgery
• Placement of dental implants
• Bone graft

Do observe that non-surgical or cosmetical dental procedures, for example non-surgical root canal treatment, crowning, dentures and braces, as well as simple teeth extractions that do not involve surgery, are excluded from Medisave claims.

Using Medisave and Associated Payment Limits

The amount payable via Medisave for dental surgical procedures is dependent upon the kind of surgery appended on the Table of Surgical Procedures (TOSP), a complete listing of procedures for which Medisave can be claimed for. Each surgical procedure in the TOSP is associated with a specific code which, consequently, determines the limit that may be claimed using Medisave for that procedure according to the Table of Operations, which is the following:

Maximum Amount Allowed

For example, the surgical insertion of a dental implant falls under Table 2C, which sets the Medisave limit at $950. If you need to insert two dental implants, you can use as much as $1,900 ($950 x 2) for the payment of your dental implants. Presuming the insertion of two dental implants can cost you $3000, you will need to pay an account balance of $1,100, after deducting $1,900 out of your Medisave account, subject to final approval from the CPF Board.

For surgical wisdom tooth extraction done as a day surgery, Medisave can be used to hide to $300 each day for ward charges, such as investigation, medicine and doctor's attendance, in addition to a fixed limit for operation ranging from $250 (Table 1A) to $7,550 (Table 7C) with respect to the kind of operation performed. If there is several operation, the quantity which can be withdrawn from Medisave for that operation cannot exceed $7,550 or even the actual amount incurred, whichever is gloomier.

Making a Claim for Dental Surgery Using Medisave

Before making use of your Medisave for payment of dental procedure, you should first seek advice from the accredited dental clinic or medical institution when the procedure qualifies for claims under Medisave.

Once you have ascertained that the procedure qualifies for claims under Medisave, you can then inform employees that you would need to make use of your Medisave during payment or while being discharged. In cases like this, employees can get you to sign the Medical Claims Authorisation Form (MCAF), which authorises the clinic or institution to apply your Medisave balance to pay the bill.

At the point of application, the clinic should tell you the bill amount, the amount to become deducted out of your Medisave account, confirming your name against the Medisave account details, in addition to any outstanding amount of the bill to be paid in cash.

Once the claims are approved and processed, you'll get a Medisave Claims Statement indicating the specific patient that for, the amount deducted from the Medisave account, along with the name from the clinic or institution where the claim is made.

In the big event that you do not possess a Medisave account, or your Medisave balance is insufficient to cover the bill, your immediate members of the family, just like your spouse, parents, siblings or child, may use their Medisave to help you using the bill payment, subject to Medisave withdrawal limits. Do observe that the Medisave Account holder needs to fill in and sign the necessary MCAF form.

As mentioned earlier, Medisave are only able to be used for payment of surgeries and day surgeries and non-surgical treatments are excluded. However, those signed up for the CHAS scheme are able to enjoy subsidised rates for selected non-surgical dental treatments at accredited dental clinics, with respect to the card they're entitled to.