SINGAPOREANS aged 50 and above and families with children will receive additional top-ups this year.
These payouts are in addition to previous direct transfers to families such as the GST Credits and the Senior Citizens bonus.
Most people 50 years old and above will receive a one-off top-up to their CPF Medisave accounts.
Those aged 50 to 59 will get $200 to $300 while those 60 to 69 will get $300 to $400. People over 70 will receive $400 to $500.
But Singaporeans with annual assessable incomes above $100,000 in the 2009 tax year will not be eligible.
The Medisave top-up will benefit about 1.02 million Singaporeans and will cost $310 million.
Medisave is a national medical savings scheme that helps people put aside part of their income to meet future medical expenses.
The chairman of the Singapore Hospice Council, Dr Tan Kee Wee, said the top-up can “help relieve those with tight pockets who want the best of care at the end of their lives”.
The Government is also setting aside $200 million for Medifund, which supports needy Singaporeans, and $200 million for the Eldercare Fund.
This fund subsidises a range of services, including community hospitals, hospices and nursing homes.
There are also additional top-ups to the Post-Secondary Education Account (PSEA), which was set up in 2007 to encourage families to put their children through tertiary education.
Children under 13 will get up to $200 in their accounts, while those 13 to 20 will get up to $500.
About 650,000 students will benefit from the new top-up, which will cost the Government $230 million.
This is the third top-up since the scheme was set up.
Soon, a secondary school student living in an HDB flat will have received a total of $1,900 – $1,000 in 2008, $400 in 2009 and $500 this year. This amount covers about 85 per cent of polytechnic tuition fees for a year.
All the direct transfers to households this year will cost the Government $1.4 billion.
And while most Singaporeans will receive some benefits, more will go to lower- and middle-income families.