Oral Answer by Mr Lim Swee Say, Minister for Manpower, to Parliamentary Question on CPF Medical Grounds Scheme

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) what is the definition of "severely impacted life expectancy" to apply for an early withdrawal under the CPF Medical Grounds Scheme; (b) whether the definition can be brought in line with the Life Insurance Association's Critical Illness Framework or the equivalent for transparency reasons; and (c) what is the reduced Retirement Sum for calculating the withdrawal amount and how is it derived.

Answer

1. CPF members with serious medical conditions can apply for an early withdrawal of CPF savings under the CPF Medical Grounds Scheme. The four criteria are: having a terminal illness, permanent incapacitation, suffering from an unsound mind and having a severely impaired life expectancy.
2. It is not appropriate to adopt the Life Insurance Association’s Critical Illness Framework as the definition for severely impaired life expectancy as suggested by the member. This is because not all their listed medical conditions would result in a severely shortened life expectancy, for example loss of hearing or loss of speech. Conversely, there may be medical conditions which are not on their list but could still result in a severely shortened life expectancy. We therefore require members who wish to make withdrawals on any of these four grounds to have their medical conditions certified by doctors either from publicmedical institutions or on the CPF Board’s panel. In the last 2 years, the CPF Board approved about 1,000 applications each year.
3. CPF members who are terminally ill will be able to withdraw all their retirement savings in one lump sum. Members who are permanently incapacitated, suffer from an unsound mind or have a severely impaired life expectancy will be able to make a lump sum withdrawal from their retirement savings after setting aside a reduced Retirement Sum. Currently, it is $40,300, which is about half of the current Basic Retirement Sum.