Abstract
Singapore devotes less than 4% of its GDP to healthcare in part because its average
citizen is young. As the country has be come developed, the birth rate has fallen,
life-expectancy has lengthened and the cost of care has shown signs of escalation.
This has occurred despite the extensive cost-control measures built into the mandatory system of medical savings and the opt-in supplement of medical insurance. The threat of care inflation is that much greater be cause of Singapore’s attempt to position it self as a regional treatment hub, be cause of rising in comes and expectations,
and because of a short age of doctors and nurses which is driving wages up. Old age is contributing to the problem but, the article shows, is not the only cause.