Oral Answer by Senior Minister of State for Manpower Mr Zaqy Mohamad, to PQ on illegal repatriation and healthcare access for migrant workers

NOTICE PAPER NO. 299 OF 2021 FOR THE SITTING ON OR AFTER 5 MARCH 2021
QUESTION NO. 806 FOR ORAL ANSWER

MP: Mr Leon Perera

To ask the Minister for Manpower (a) in the last five years, whether there are employers repatriating injured migrant workers against their will due to high healthcare costs and, if so, how many of such instances have there been; (b) how many complaints have been received in the past five years relating to the employer’s failure to furnish a letter of guarantee, thereby impeding healthcare access for migrant workers; (c) what actions have been taken against such errant employers; and (d) what steps are taken to ensure that migrant workers are educated about laws and entitlements relating to their healthcare needs and the scope of their insurance coverage in their native language.

Answer:

1 Employers are responsible to pay for their migrant worker’s medical expenses incurred in Singapore. Injured workers must be certified medically fit to fly, before being repatriated. Therefore, this prevents workers with serious injuries from being repatriated before they are treated.

2 Employers are also prohibited from repatriating migrant workers whose presence in Singapore is required to process their work injury or salary claim. MOM took action against two errant employers for illegal repatriation of migrant workers in the past five years.

3 MOM holds employers liable to pay for their migrant worker’s medical expenses incurred in Singapore. Under our laws, employers must buy medical insurance for migrant workers, which provides coverage of $15,000 and typically covers 95% of hospital bills arising from non-work injury. Most employers also buy work injury insurance coverage of at least $45,000 per accident, which will cover 95% of work injury bills. Employers may claim the medical expenses from these insurance plans.

4 For medical emergency cases, the hospitals will proceed even without LOGs. Workers are not denied such treatment regardless of their employer’s ability to pay. For non-emergency cases, hospitals may ask for LOG before treatment, to be assured that the employer knows and is able to pay.

5 MOM is reviewing medical insurance coverage to help employers better manage large unexpected medical expenses and give both employers and workers greater peace of mind.

6 Between 2016 and 2020, there were 63 substantiated cases of employers not paying medical bills of their migrant workers. For the vast majority of these cases, the employers paid up shortly after administrative actions were taken by MOM. The remaining employers who failed to pay were prosecuted under the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act.

7 MOM educates new migrant workers about their employment rights and protections under Singapore law, via the Settling-In-Programme, or SIP. The SIP is conducted in the workers’ native languages to aid understanding. It covers workers’ entitlements to insurance coverage, healthcare access, and work injury compensation.

8 MOM has also produced a guide for migrant workers, in their native languages, on how to seek medical help and provided contact information of MOM and NGOs. Workers may also use the 24/7 telemedicine service in the FWMOMCare mobile application to consult doctors.

9 At any time, workers may contact MOM about any employment issues through the reporting service on MOM website. Workers are also informed to alert ICA officers at immigration checkpoints if their employer attempts to repatriate them when they have a pending work injury or salary claim.