ITIC APAC 2026 | Navigating Singapore’s healthcare system as a traveller and expat

The ITIJ team are reporting from ITIC APAC in Singapore this week (15–17 June 2026), sharing the discussions that take place at the conference. Read all reports.

Dr Peter Chow, CEO, IHH Healthcare Singapore

Opening the event's first session, Dr Chow positioned Singapore within the broader Southeast Asian healthcare landscape, noting that regional demographic and economic shifts are reshaping demand for healthcare services. He highlighted how rising affluence and ageing populations are contributing to increasing rates of chronic disease and driving demand for more complex care across the region.

He outlined Singapore's dual public-private model, noting that private hospitals have become a major destination for international patients seeking specialist expertise, timely access to care, and personalised treatment pathways.

Dr Chow highlighted the compact nature of Singapore's healthcare ecosystem, where hospitals, specialist clinics, ambulatory centres, and diagnostics are often located within a few kilometres of one another, making it easier for patients to move between different levels of care. He noted that two of the hospitals visited by delegates the previous day – Gleneagles and Mount Elizabeth – are located just 3km apart.

He said that Singapore is well positioned to meet growing healthcare demands through strong regulatory accountability, advanced clinical expertise, and close collaboration between providers and insurers. Unlike some regional destinations that compete primarily on affordability, Singapore has developed an environment focused on predictable outcomes and robust clinical governance.

Dr Chow emphasised the role of value-based healthcare initiatives, appropriateness controls for high-cost treatments, and outcome measurement programmes that support both quality and long-term sustainability.

Strong transport links, global connectivity, political stability, and a mature corporate healthcare market have created an ecosystem capable of supporting increasingly complex international patient journeys. Dr Chow described Singapore as more than a healthcare destination, highlighting its ability to combine world-class medical care with the wider infrastructure needed to support patients and accompanying family members during treatment and recovery. Singapore generates more than S$30 billion in annual tourism receipts, underlining its appeal as a global destination.

In his closing remarks, Dr Chow said that Singapore's private hospitals succeed not because patients lack alternatives, but because they compete alongside some of the world's highest-ranked public institutions. Hospitals such as Singapore General Hospital, he noted, give patients genuine choice between public and private providers. Unlike some regional markets where private healthcare fills gaps in public provision, competition in Singapore helps raise standards across the healthcare system and reinforces the country's reputation for quality care.

Risa Wong, Head of APAC Hub, Europ Assistance

Next, Wong examined how international patients navigate Singapore’s healthcare system and what insurers, assistance providers, and international medical plans need to understand when managing care in one of Asia’s most advanced – and expensive – healthcare markets.

She began by distinguishing travellers and expatriates, arguing that although both groups are international patients, their healthcare journeys are fundamentally different. Travel insurance cases are typically short-term, emergency-driven and heavily managed by assistance providers, with a focus on stabilisation and discharge. International private medical insurance (IPMI) patients, by contrast, often require long-term management of chronic or planned conditions and expect greater flexibility and continuity in choosing providers and treatment pathways.

Wong argued that these differences require distinct approaches to case management, authorisation, and utilisation control. While travel insurers often direct patients through tightly managed care pathways, IPMI members typically enjoy greater autonomy, with insurers influencing behaviour through network design, reimbursement structures, and pre-authorisation requirements. Effective cost control, she argued, depends not simply on paying claims, but on actively managing utilisation and treatment pathways over time.

A significant portion of the presentation focused on Singapore’s healthcare environment itself. Wong described a system characterised by rapid admissions, specialist-led treatment, and high levels of medical technology – backing Dr Chow’s earlier comments. However, she noted that these strengths come with significant cost pressures. Specialist fees can exceed hospital charges for major procedures, while payment guarantees and pre-authorisation are often essential to avoid deposits and manage utilisation effectively.

She also explored how hospital selection influences costs. Using examples from Singapore’s public, mid-tier private and premium private sectors, Wong demonstrated how treatment costs can escalate substantially depending on provider choice, despite similar clinical outcomes. This creates important trade-offs between affordability, speed of access, and patient experience.

The presentation wrapped with a regional comparison of healthcare costs across Asia. Wong highlighted that procedures such as laparoscopic appendectomies can cost several times more in Singapore and Hong Kong than in Thailand or Malaysia, despite being clinically similar. These variations reinforce the importance of active case management and informed provider selection she said, particularly for insurers and assistance companies seeking to balance quality outcomes with cost containment.