Publish medical fee benchmarks: health insurance taskforce

A HEALTH insurance taskforce set up in February 2016 has released its recommendations to address the issue of escalating claims costs for Integrated Shield Plans (IPs), which are driving up health insurance premiums, the Life Insurance Association of Singapore (LIA) said in a press release Thursday morning.

The taskforce's recommendations included introducing published medical fee benchmarks and clarifying existing processes to detect inappropriate medical treatment.

Publishing medical fee benchmarks would help "bridge the information asymmetry gap which currently exists between healthcare providers and consumers, mitigate cases of over-charging by providers and empower insurers to detect inflated claims and take an active approach towards claims adjudication", the taskforce added, according to LIA's statement.