As a result, he said, prices for approved cancer drugs have since dropped significantly, some by up to 60 per cent. The impact is still playing out, and MOH will continue to monitor the situation.

Lastly, the council will also consider expanding MediShield Life coverage to new ground-breaking treatments, specifically cell, tissue and gene therapy products, also known as CTGTPs.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), CTGTPs include medicinal products such as haematopoietic stem cells, skin grafts, novel gene editing technologies and engineered tissues.

The WHO says their use in the treatment of human diseases and physical conditions has captured wide interest due to their potential to address many unmet medical needs.

Mr Ong pointed out that with medical science advancing rapidly, CTGTPs have the potential to revolutionize healthcare and deliver effective treatment of previously incurable diseases. Some describe it as the equivalent of a moonshot in healthcare, he said.

He explained that, essentially, the one-time treatment involves extracting the patient’s blood, teaching and equipping the cells in the blood to target and kill cancer cells, for example, and then putting the cells back into the patient’s body to do their work.

“However, while the technology is promising and advancing fast, it is nascent and very expensive. It could cost anything from a few hundred thousand dollars to a few million dollars per treatment,” said Mr Ong.

“We want to start including CTGTPs under MediShield Life coverage. But we need to put in place safeguards to ensure that financing of CTGTPs is sustainable.

“For example, we will need to extend MediShield Life coverage only to treatments that are assessed to be safe, clinically effective and cost-effective,” he added.

In other words, if a treatment costs a few million dollars, with a small chance of curing a small group of people, it is not cost-effective, said Mr Ong.

He added: “This is a significant step to help all Singaporean patients, regardless of their income level, have access to cost-effective, novel, state-of-the-art therapies.”

While the proposed changes will better protect subsidized patients against major health episodes, MediShield Life premiums will inevitably go up, he said.

“But rest assured that we will do the necessary to ensure that as far as possible, premiums can be paid fully by MediSave,” said Mr Ong.

For example, the Government will consider enhancing premium subsidies or MediSave top-ups for specific groups.

Singaporeans may have to use more of their medical savings in MediSave for small hospital bills so that MediShield Life can better focus on big hospital bills, which will then moderate premium increases, said Mr Ong.

“No one will lose MediShield Life coverage due to a genuine inability to afford the premiums,” he stressed.

MOH will share more details when the council completes its review in the second half of 2024.