YIJC 2023 JC2 H2 Prelim 9570 P1 QP_ (Final)

YISHUN INNOVA JUNIOR COLLEGE JC 2 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION Higher 2 CANDIDATE NAME CG INDEX NO ECONOMICS Paper 1 Case Study Questions Additional Materials: Writing Papers Cover Pages 9570/01 28 August 2023 2 hour 30 minutes READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name, CG and index number on the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use a HB pencil for any diagrams or graphs. Do not use staples, paper clips, glue or correction fluid/tape. There are two questions in this paper. Answer all questions. Start each question (not each part) on a fresh answer booklet. At the end of the examination, fasten your work for each question separately . The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. This document consists of 7 printed pages and 3 blank pages. [Turn over

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©YIJC2023 9570/01/Prelim/23 3 Answer all questions. Question 1: Healthcare and Health insurance in Singapore Table 1: Healthcare Inflation Rate in Singapore Year 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 Healthcare Inflation Rate (%) 2.49 2.04 1.11 -1.54 1.13 2.18 Source: Singapore Department of Statistics Extract 1: Challenges within the healthcare sector The principal challenge facing the healthcare sector today is cost. As medical costs continue to grow, a basic social need becomes increasingly i naccessible to much of the population. Additionally, as we emerge from the pandemic, there will be immense pressure on governments to rein in their spending, of which hea lthcare plays a large role. In Singapore, the cost of healthcare has increased and the averag e healthcare inflation rate was 2.3 per cent. All these factors point to the conclusion that the current model is not sustainable. This collision of ballooning healthcare costs and strain ed budgets leaves hard choices for policymakers. Governments must decide what therapie s they can afford to subsidise, while insurers, as the healthcare payers, are left to determine treatment access restrictions in order to protect their own profitability. Source: The Business Times, 16 June 2021 Extract 2: Drivers of rising healthcare costs Rising healthcare costs to consumers are expected i ncrease in the years ahead, a Ministry of Finance (MOF) paper said, attributing it to three major factors. First, an ageing population means older patients are more likely to have multip le medical conditions and complications and require more medical attention and longer hospi tal stays. Second, there are higher utilisation rates of healthcare, after adjusting fo r the impact of ageing. This is due to rising incomes and greater accessibility of high-quality he