The Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund offers financial assistance to senior Singaporeans so they can continue to be independent and mobile throughout the community. Suppose your senior loved one is over sixty years of age or older and requires caregiver services and assistive technology to stay mobile and independent. In that case, the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund could be prepared to help.
What Is the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund?
The SMF constitutes a financial program run by the Agency for Integrated Care that offers subsidies to Singaporean elders to enable them to live freely in the neighbourhood and support family caregivers who look after seniors at home.
The following assistive equipment, home healthcare supplies, and specialized transportation are all eligible for subsidies under the SMF:
Assistive Devices. A senior citizen’s mobility aids, including wheelchairs and walking sticks, are referred to as assistive equipment. Along with glasses and hearing aids, it also constitutes customised and specialised devices that an elderly person would require at home, like commodes, pressure-relief pillows, and hospital beds.
Home Healthcare Services. Elderly people in fragile conditions who are capable of living in nursing facilities but want to remain at home instead can get financial assistance to cover the expenses of catheters, adult diapers, supplements, nasal tubing, as well as wound dressings.
The Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund’s Potential Benefits
Senior citizens who are physically as well as financially able to age in place more easily may be qualified to receive grants for assistive technology or other home healthcare supplies under the Senior Mobility Fund (SMF). In principle, they will get up to 90% of the expense of the mobility assistance or the maximum device subsidy cup, whichever is lower. The actual value of the subsidy they are going to get is contingent upon the results of the means-testing assessment.
1. Assistive Devices Subsidy
Anything that makes it easier for older citizens to move around or carry out their Activities of Daily Living, or ADLs, is considered to be included in this category. Frail seniors receiving SMF assistance should be aware that it is not possible to submit the same application more than once for the same kind of gadget. Reimbursement for any purchases made before the application was accepted is likewise not permitted.
The categories of assistive devices covered or that qualify for SMF subsidies are:
- Basic pushchairs or wheelchairs
- Commode
- Elderly chair
- Hearing aids or audio devices
- medical bed
- a scooter or wheelchair with motors
- Pressure relief cushions
- Bed for pressure alleviation
- Spectacles
- mobility aids
- Other specialized tools, including oxygen concentrators, transfer boards, as well as suction pumps
2. Home Healthcare Items
Singaporean seniors who want to age in place with ease and comfort rather than in a nursing home or senior apartments in Singapore are eligible to obtain incentives for a variety of home healthcare products and services.
The set of home healthcare supplies needed by older citizens differs individually according to the amount of care needed and the type of their illness. Typically, healthcare experts are going to offer their patients an outline of what is necessary and even make suggestions on the best brands and features to use.
SMF subsidies can be used to pay for the following categories of home healthcare items and equipment:
- Adult diapers
- Catheters
- Milk supplements
- Nasal tubing and nasogastric tubes
- pH test strip indicator
- Wound dressings
3. Specialised Transportation Services
The brief guidelines on SMEF also allow seniors to receive treatment at different hospice care centres, eldercare centres, and dialysis facilities sponsored by the Ministry of Health with subsidies for transportation in addition to assistive equipment and home healthcare supplies.
How Can I Submit a Funding Request for the SMF?
On this page, you may find more details on how to apply for SMF subsidies.
More information is available if you:
- Write an email
- Contact Singapore Silver Line customer service at 1800 650 6060.
- Visit the local AICare Link branch
How Beneficial Is The SMF?
The following assistance programs are available to seniors who age in place and remain in their homes:
- Assistive devices subsidy
For assistive devices, incentives of up to 90% of the price of the mobility assistance or 90% of the total device subsidy ceiling, whichever is lower, are permitted.
- Home healthcare items subsidy
How to Be Eligible?
For consideration for the Seniors’ Mobility and Enabling Fund, SMF, candidates must:
- Be 60 years of age or older and a Singaporean
- Either have a home’s annual value listed on your NRIC as being less than $13,000 or have an aggregate monthly family income of $2,000 or less.
- Meet the criteria for MOH’s non-residential framework for intermediate and long-term care
- Be making a first-time application for the Assistive Devices or Home Healthcare Items class, and you must have yet to submit a prior SMF claim for that category.
- Being a community member rather than living in a shelter or assisted-living institution
- Having a co-pay option for the home healthcare gadget or assistive device
- Having a trained assessor, including a certified physician, nurse, therapist, or optometrist, should evaluate the sort of equipment that is necessary.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Means Tests and How Will They Be Conducted?
In essence, a means test is a technique used to determine the amount of assistance that each applicant is qualified for. Accessing subsidies for assistive equipment or home health care supplies, guarantees that those from lower-income families are given preference over those from families with higher incomes. Before a subsidy application can be authorized, applicants must complete the means test according to MOH’s ITLC non-residential framework.
How Much Funding Will Be Granted?
Seniors who qualify may get up to ninety per cent of the assistive technology devices’ maximum device subsidy cap or ninety per cent of the mobility aid’s expense subsidy, whichever is lower.
What Does It Take to Pass the Means Test?
To be taken into account, applicants must complete a means test by the MOH’s SMF Assistive Device. The yearly valuation of the home is reported on NRIC for low-income households earning no more than $13,000 per year or a monthly household revenue of no more than $2,000 per month.
Conclusion
Investing in assistive technology and home health care supplies to maintain mobility in the community has become increasingly difficult as a result of Singapore’s fast-rising cost of living, particularly for lower-income households. The elderly can receive financial support by paying for the bulk of the overall expenses of the required devices and services while receiving care from a live in caregiver in Singapore with the help of different government subsidies including the SMF, EASE Programme, and the like.
See our in-depth guide to financial assistance programs in Singapore for additional details as the MOH mentioned key changes. It will provide you with all the details you want and aid you with identifying the programs that best meet your requirements.
