‘Significantly higher costs’: Great Eastern suspends pre-authorisation certificate for admission to Mount Elizabeth hospitals

[SINGAPORE] Insurer Great Eastern (GE) has temporarily suspended pre-authorisation certificates for Mount Elizabeth Hospitals from Tuesday (Jun 17).

In a message to its panel doctors, the insurer said that high costs from Mount Elizabeth and Mount Elizabeth Novena hospitals, compared to other private hospitals, have driven this decision.

“We have observed that average hospital charges at these two facilities are consistently higher than those at comparable private hospitals for similar procedures and case profiles,” GE said. “This has a direct impact on out-of-pocket expenses and insurance affordability for our customers.”