The Ministry of Health (MOH) released a statement on February 16 (Saturday), saying that about 7,700 people who applied or renewed their Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) cards between September and October last year received miscalculated subsidies. The error was caused by a computer system malfunction. CHAS is an initiative by the government to provide healthcare subsidies to its members.
According to an article published by Channel NewsAsia, about 1,300 of the individuals affected by the software issue received lower subsidies while the other 6,400 got more than what was due to them. The excess and deficit amounts were estimated to be about S$2 million and S$400,000 respectively. The S$2 million will be covered for by NCS, the IT services and solutions provider who administered the computer system, as per their contract.
The individuals who received lower subsidies will have the lacking amount reimbursed. On the other hand, those who got an excess could keep the difference.
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7,700 S'poreans received inaccurate CHAS subsidies due to software error: MOH
Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) cards. (File photo: Ministry of Communications and Information)
An error in the computer system administered by NCS caused about 7,700 individuals to receive inaccurate healthcare and intermediate- and long-term care subsidies, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Feb 16).
The affected individuals are among those whose applications or renewals of their Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) cards were processed from Sep 18 to Oct 10 last year.
The error arose in the computer system when it calculated means-test results.
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System fault due to 'human error' led to wrong healthcare subsidies for 7,700 people: MOH, NCS
The error occurred when an engineer deployed the wrong version of a software file into the computer system run by IT vendor NCS, which caused it to miscalculate the means-test results of these individuals. A means test is used to determine the amount of subsidies each Chas applicant is eligible for.
Chas allows S'poreans from lower- and middle-income households to receive subsidies for medical and dental care at more than 1,000 private general practitioners (GPs) and 700 dental clinics islandwide. Among the affected individuals, some had their Chas subsidies affected, while others had subsidies under other schemes, such as MediShield Life premiums, affected, MOH said.
Aside from Chas, MOH said the error affected:
- specialist outpatient clinic and drug subsidies at public healthcare institutions
- MediShield Life premium subsidies
- subsidies and grants for intermediate and long-term care services (such as community hospitals, nursing homes, disability homes, day and home care)
- disability assistance schemes
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IT error led to wrong Chas subsidies for 7,700
The bungle was due to an "isolated case of human error" said NCS, resulting in an incorrect version of a software being deployed during a system migration exercise.
The MOH said the means-test & subsidy tiers for the affected individuals were corrected by yesterday. Those affected are not required to take any action for now.
The total amount to be reimbursed is estimated to be $400,000.
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CHAS IT error: A timeline of how it unfolded
An error in the means-test system managed by IT firm NCS led to inaccuracies in the subsidies computed for healthcare schemes for S'poreans, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Feb 16).
The inaccuracies affected 7,700 people who applied for or renewed their Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) between Sep 18 and Oct 10.
A majority of them, 6,400, received higher subsidies due to the error, but will not need to return the additional subsidies, MOH said. The others will be reimbursed. MOH & NCS gave a breakdown of when the error was discovered and the events that followed.
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