The Challenge
By 2026, Singapore will become a super-aged society, with more than one in five of the population aged 65 and above. National operating expenditure on long-term care has nearly doubled in five years, rising from S$1.7 billion to S$3.0 billion. With average long-term care needs estimated at S$3,000 per month and the current CareShield Life payout at S$662 per month, the scheme covers approximately 22% of typical care costs before other subsidies apply.
Over 40% of informal caregivers are at risk of depression, and the annual monetary value of unpaid caregiving in Singapore is estimated at S$1.28 billion (Duke-NUS study). Many working families — the “sandwich generation” caring for both children and elderly dependants — face growing financial and emotional strain with limited safety net coverage.
About This Position Paper
Leap201’s Care4WorkingFamilies (C4W) Phase One Position Paper was produced in partnership with KPMG Singapore as knowledge partner. It draws on a review of long-term care insurance models in Japan and Germany, a closed-door roundtable convened on 16 June 2025 with over 20 senior leaders from government, healthcare, academia, and private
sectors, and secondary research from the Ministry of Health, CPF Board, Duke-NUS Medical School, and the World Economic Forum.
The paper examines how Singapore’s long-term care framework — and CareShield Life in particular — can better support working families facing severe disability and critical illness as Singapore transitions to a super-aged society.
Five Recommendations
Recommendation 1 — Define a standard basket of basic long-term care needs
At present there is no clear definition of what constitutes basic long-term care. Establishing a standard basket of care needs would give families a benchmark to understand how CareShield Life complements other government schemes, in the same way MediShield Life is understood to cover hospitalisation costs.
Recommendation 2 — Increase CareShield Life payouts and align annual increments with healthcare inflation
The current fixed 2% annual increase has not kept pace with rising healthcare costs, which are projected to increase 12% in 2025 alone (WTW Global Medical Trends Report). The base monthly payout should be raised to cover a larger share of actual care costs for the severely disabled.
Recommendation 3 — Ease CareShield Life eligibility from three to two Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)
Currently CareShield Life only pays out when a person cannot perform three or more ADLs. Easing to two ADLs enables earlier intervention, which research suggests could save up to S$650 million in direct healthcare costs by 2050 (NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health).
Recommendation 4 — Introduce a Recovery Greenlane
Accessing long-term care support currently requires navigating multiple agencies and separate assessments. A single universal assessment providing auto-inclusion into all eligible government and community schemes would reduce administrative burden and enable faster access to support — drawing on models from Japan and Germany.
Recommendation 5 — Align Annual Value thresholds across all long-term care schemes
Different AV thresholds across schemes create a cliff effect where families in properties valued between S$21,000 and S$31,000 qualify for some schemes but not others. Aligning all long-term care scheme thresholds to S$31,000 — consistent with CareShield Life — would extend coverage to more than three in four residential properties, including all HDB households.
Policy Impact
On 27 August 2025, the Ministry of Health announced enhancements to the CareShield Life scheme. Two of Leap201’s recommendations are directly reflected in these enhancements: higher monthly payouts (with the growth rate raised from 2% to 4% per annum between 2026 and 2030) and improved streamlining of the application and claims process. Leap201 welcomes these enhancements as an encouraging step toward greater inclusion in Singapore’s long-term care framework.
Download the Full Position Paper
The full 30-page position paper includes detailed analysis of Singapore’s long-term care landscape, comparative study of Japan and Germany’s long-term care insurance models, CareShield Life claims data from 2020 to 2024, and the complete methodology and acknowledgements.