Small percentage of S'poreans use CPF for parents' medical fees

Less than five per cent of Singaporeans with Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts used these funds to pay for their parents' healthcare expenses in 2010.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong revealed these figures in Parliament on Friday, in response to a parliamentary question by Non-Constituency Member Gerald Giam, who had asked for these figures.

Mr Gan said in 2010, there were around two million working Singaporeans with CPF accounts, and among them 80,000 used their CPF to pay for their parents' medical fees. If older CPF members were excluded from the figures, the proportion would be slightly higher.

Singaporeans withdrew $732 million from their Medisave accounts in 2010, of which 18 per cent was used to pay for their parents' treatment.