Singapore Budget 2014 measures 'debunk view that health

Specifically for the pioneer generation members - those aged 65 and above this year and who became citizens before 1987 - they will receive more subsidies on outpatient care to help especially with treatment for chronic illnesses, Medisave top-ups and MediShield Life subsidies.

Honouring our Pioneer Generation Get the full story from The Straits Times.

Here are the excerpts from the Budget Speech by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in Parliament on health care reviews for the Pioneer Generation:

Criteria for the Pioneer Generation

Taken together, the review of MediShield Life - including the subsidies we will provide for Singaporeans - as well as our enhanced SOC subsidies, are significant improvements in healthcare accessibility and affordability. These are changes that we will sustain for the long term for all Singaporeans.

Let me move on now to the Pioneer Generation Package which provides a special package of support on top of these enhancements.

As the Prime Minister has announced, the Pioneer Generation Package will be for the first generation of Singaporeans who were living and working in Singapore after we became independent.

The Pioneer Generation Package will thus be for those who were at least 16 years old in 1965. Within these age cohorts, we have - for practical reasons - included those who became citizens before 1987.

This is because our manual records before that are incomplete with regard to the dates they became citizens. However, we know that more than 90 per cent of those who became citizens by 1987 were already living in Singapore before 1970.

In total, about 450,000 Singaporeans fulfil the criteria. There may be people who marginally miss out on the precise criteria, but have good claims to be counted among the Pioneer Generation. We will hence establish a panel to assess appeals on a case-by-case basis.