‘Myth or Magic: The Singapore Healthcare System’

‘Myth or Magic- The Singapore Healthcare System’ is out in all major bookstores including Kinokuniya, Times the Bookshop and Select Books

E-version available at Amazon

Reviewers’ comments:

“Myth or Magic” is a wonderful account of how Singapore’s health system has evolved, and provides important insights about where the future is likely to take it. There are valuable lessons in the evolving Singapore story for all of us.

Alfred Sommer, MD, MHS. Dean Emeritus, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Professor of Ophthalmology, Epidemiology, & International Health, The Wilmer Eye Institute, The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine

There is no perfect healthcare system in the world. The ability to constantly change and evolve to stay relevant to the needs of the people is the quintessential quality for a good healthcare system. This book offers a comprehensive insight into the philosophy and challenges of the Singapore healthcare system. Definitely a gem for healthcare policy makers, administrators, workers and researchers.

Dr Lam Pin Min, Chairman, Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, Singapore

In this seminal book, Jeremy Lim dissects the issues confronting Singapore as the population ages, aspirations rise and healthcare costs mount. Drawing on his years in the public and private health sectors, he provides a critical look at the multiple aspects of what can be a highly charged political problem. From explaining the policy attitudes that shape the development of Singapore’s current healthcare system, to a detailed analysis of state and private sector spending, access to care, and availability of healthcare professionals, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding this area of governance or wanting to participate in the debate about better policies, whether in Singapore or elsewhere.

 Alex Au, public intellectual and blogger, yawningbread.wordpress.com

Although I am not a big fan of the Singapore health system, this book is well-written, brilliantly organised and an insightful guide to understand the Singapore health system.

Professor Jui-fen Rachel Lu, Department of Health Care Management, College of Management, Chang Gung University

There is tremendous interest in the Singapore healthcare system, largely because of Singapore’s impressive health statistics despite spending less than a quarter as a percentage of GDP of what the United States of America spends. Singapore also boasts the world’s only functioning national health savings account model and the Medisave scheme has attracted widespread policy and academic interest in Singapore’s healthcare system.

This interest has surged in recent years as countries around the world struggle to provide healthcare to its citizens in this age of austerity. At the same time, critics of the Singapore model decry that “it is better to die than to fall sick in Singapore” and bitterly criticize the co-payment and explicit rationing that are central pillars of the ideology of the Singapore system. Where does the truth lie?

This book seeks to provide a balanced and insightful analysis of the Singapore health system that would be of interest to two groups of readers especially. Firstly, we are targeting Singaporeans, especially policy makers and healthcare professionals, who care passionately about our future, and want to contribute in an informed manner to the debate about the future paths Singapore’s healthcare system should take.

Secondly, we want to reach out to foreigners seeking to acquire a deep understanding of the Singapore health system and the lessons, both positive and negative, we may hold for their countries. A senior Ministry of Health official once related how a visiting counterpart congratulated her on the impressive design on the Singapore system, but then immediately went on to woefully regret that it could never be implemented in his own country. The Singapore model cannot be imported or transplanted wholesale onto foreign soil, but what aspects of conceptualization or implementation contain little nuggets of insight that can be adapted? We hope this book will help shed some light.