SINGAPORE – Three in four of those who appeal to upgrade the status of their Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas) card are successful, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam told Parliament on Tuesday.

She said that the Ministry of Health has received around 14,000 appeals for changes in the last two years.

“MOH considers all appeals on a case-by-case basis, to review applicants’ means and circumstances, beyond just applying eligibility criteria of per capita household income or the annual value of their homes,” Ms Rahayu added.

She was addressing the question of whether the income criteria for the blue and orange Chas card will be raised in view of the recent inflation and if its subsidies will be reviewed due to the recent high medical inflation.

Ms Rahayu said MOH regularly reviews the income criteria and subsidy levels for its healthcare subsidy schemes, revealing that both Chas subsidy levels and Chas income criteria were last reviewed in 2019.

“From early next year, Chas cardholders can benefit from the Healthier SG Chronic Tier, if they enrol with a Healthier SG GP clinic,” she said.

Introduced in 2012, Chas enables Singapore citizens to receive subsidies for medical and dental care at participating general practitioner (GP) and dental clinics.

The scheme aims to encourage Singaporeans to turn to their family physicians first, instead of going straight to hospitals. Conditions covered by Chas include the common cold and cough.

It also subsidises screenings for some conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure and colorectal cancer.

The cards come in three colours – green, orange and blue – representing different levels of subsidies cardholders are entitled to.

It also covers treatment for chronic conditions listed under the Chronic Disease Management Programme (CD...